My friend Jarrett Cohen, a science writer at Goddard, was one of the lucky NASA employees to receive a chance to see the final liftoff of space shuttle Discovery on Thursday, February 24. While he was there, he shot this footage. After seeing so many videos of past launches using telephoto lenses, it was sort of interesting to see what it REALLY looks like. And even from a distance, it’s still a glorious sight.
I have wanted to attend a space shuttle launch for some time. With STS-133 being the last launch of Discovery–a shuttle with such a great history–I put in for a car pass despite the tough odds of getting one. Out of several hundred Goddard employees who applied, I was fortunate to be randomly chosen for one of fewer than 60 passes available.
Many of us flew down to Florida for what turned out to be three unsuccessful launch attempts in early November. Although the timing was challenging, I decided to return for the February 24 launch attempt. A group of us who know each other from the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS), along with family and friends, drove together in two vans and arrived about 4 hours before launch time.
It was beautiful weather for a launch, and we had a clear view of the launch pad from the Kennedy Space Center Causeway seven miles way. A computer problem with the range safety system almost led to another postponement. Cheers went up when we heard the announcer say that launch was a go, and Discovery made the launch window with a few seconds to spare. As captured on my digital camera (using no zoom), the shuttle slowly emerges from a cloud of smoke and accelerates through the sky to reach several thousand miles per hour within seconds. It was a remarkable combination of speed and grace.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ OH AND DID I MENTION? All opinions and opinionlike objects in this blog are mine alone and NOT those of NASA or Goddard Space Flight Center. And while we’re at it, links to websites posted on this blog do not imply endorsement of those websites by NASA.
I just caught this great post on the Air & Space Smithsonian’s Daily Planet blog. It’s about an item of special significance to us Goddard geeks that was carried into space aboard the space shuttle in May. As blogger Rebecca Maksel explains:
But a number of smaller articles made the 11-day journey as well, one of which was the National Air and Space Museum’s replica of John Mather’s 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics. (Dr. Mather, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, was awarded the prize jointly with George F. Smoot of the University of California at Berkeley “for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.”)
Read the rest on Daily Planet. . . . .
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ OH AND DID I MENTION?All opinions and opinionlike objects in this blog are mine alone and NOT those of NASA or Goddard Space Flight Center. And while we’re at it, links to websites posted on this blog do not imply endorsement of those websites by NASA.
On Monday June 21, “The Case of the Mylar Mystery” debuted on the History Detectives program. The detectives came to Goddard in January to figure out whether a scrap of silvery Mylar was could be traced back to Goddard’s Echo II satelloon project. . . . Well, gogblog won’t ruin it for you by revealing the answer, but you can download the transcript if you don’t have time to watch the show.
On Wednesday June 23, the Goddard Public Affairs Office (PAO) posted a mission update feature, ‘L2′ Will be the James Webb Space Telescope’s Home in Space. The orbital sweet spot is called L2 and it sits about 930,000 miles from Earth, where the gravitational tugs of the sun and Earth balance out . . . . .Why the way-out waystation? For one thing, the gravitational stalemate means it takes minimal energy to make the ‘scope stay put at L2. Also, the frigid temperature out there keeps Webb’s sensitive instruments frosty and sharp. And L2 offers an unobstructed view of the cosmos.
The lunar farside
Also on Wednesday, Goddard PAO’s Andrew Freeberg chilled out on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s first birthday at the moon with Ten Cool Things Seen in the First Year of LRO. And the winning contestants are 1) the coldest place in the solar system ever measured, 2) astronaut footprints, 3) a near miss with Cone Crater, 4) a lost Soviet rover, 5) the lunar farside, 6) a bevy of boulders, 7) mountains, 08) rilles, 9) pits, and 10) frigid polar craters. Andy’s fine review features lots of blogolicious moon images.
Goddard Astronomy Club president Cornelis Dutoit keeps an eye on the sun as relentless shimmering waves of solar energy melt the faces off of everyone else attending Celebrate Goddard 2010.
On Thursday June 24, “Celebrate Goddard” took over the grassy mall near the main gate, spotlighting “the diverse skills and individual differences that have made our legacy of success possible.” Atta boy, Goddard! You go, major NASA center for research in astronomy, earth, and space science! Lookin’ sharp, kid! . . . . . The day featured exhibits by Goddard scientists, organizations, and clubs; a Center talent show; and the first-ever Celebrate Goddard parade, featuring the DuVal High Marching Tigers. . . . . The weather: hot enough to melt your face off, with heat index up to 104 degrees.
Also on Thursday, NASA released a near-full disk image of Earth snapped by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team created it by assembling multiple scans captured by LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera. The image was originally posted on the Arizona State University LROC featured image site by Mark Robinson, LROC’s Principle Investigator.
***UPDATE: Friday June 25, 4:22 pm . . . NASA released another LRO image: Goddard Crater, located along the Moon’s eastern limb and named after the namesake of our beloved Center, pioneering rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945). The LOLA instrument that captured the image was built here.
Astronaut Sally K. Ride
HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES
Thursday marked 27 years since the space shuttle mission — STS-7, June 18-24, 1983 — that carried astrophysicist Sally K. Ride into space and into history as the first American woman in orbit. . . . . But the anniversary is bittersweet: STS-7 was a flight of the Challenger, which was lost with all hands about three years later, January 28, 1986. Two female astronauts died that day: Judith Resnik and Christa McAuliffe.
On June 25, 1997, the Russian resupply vessel Progress collided with the science module Spektor on the Mir space station while attempting to dock. The blow punctured and decompressed Spektor, and knocked out its solar panels. . . . . The two cosmonauts and one American astronaut (Michael Foale) on Mir were not harmed. . . . . The Russian space agency refused to abandon ship, and kept Mir alive until it could be repaired. Foale stayed aboard, too. . . . . Watch the animated recreation of this near-catastrophe on YouTube to get a sense of just how bad it was — and how lucky the astro/cosmonauts were to make it through alive!
On June 26, 1978, NASA launched Seasat-A, the first satellite to make global observations of Earth’s oceans. The satellite carried the first spaceborne synthetic aperture radar. After 105 days of returning data, Seasat was crippled by an electrical fault. . . . . Now here is a blogolicious Seasat-A science fact: While not anticipated by the satellite’s designers, Seasat-A was actually able to detect the waves of SUBMERGED submarines!
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Gogblog loves space tech, and here is a massive dose of it for like-minded technophiles. Remembering the Giants: Apollo Rocket Propulsion Development, Monographs in Aerospace History, No. 45 (NASA SP-2009-4545), edited by Steven C. Fisher and Shamim A. Rahman. . . . . This monograph is the proceedings from a series of lectures on Apollo propulsion development hosted by NASA’s Stennis Space Center. . . . . Request a copy of this monograph by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the NASA History Division, Room CO72, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546. Or just download a PDF of the report.
Gogblog gratefully credits the NASA History Division website as the source of the historical tidbits this week.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ OH AND DID I MENTION?All opinions and opinionlike objects in this blog are mine alone and NOT those of NASA or Goddard Space Flight Center.
This is the third in a series of posts on orbital debris and what it means for science.
This object exceeds the 2-pound frozen chicken rule
As far as we know, nobody has ever been killed by a piece of space junk. But a scrap of insulating blanket from a disintegrating Delta II rocket stage did brush the shoulder of one Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1997. Fortunately the scrap wasn’t very heavy or moving very fast.
Anyway, if you’re concerned about falling space junk, NASA’s got your back. The official name is Standard 8719.14, Requirement 4.7-1. I call it the 2-pound frozen chicken rule.
The requirement states that the risk of significant injury from a piece of debris reentering Earth’s atmosphere must be no greater than 1 in 10,000. “Significant injury” is defined as a blow that delivers 15 joules of energy to the unprotected human body. “Fifteen joules is roughly the equivalent of a 2-pound frozen chicken falling out of your freezer on your foot,” says Scott Hull, an orbital debris engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s going to hurt.”
If it hit you in the head, it could be fatal. But you’ve got a fighting chance. And by the way, the 15-joule threshold is based on a significant amount of actual research. It really is the amount of work you have to do to injure someone.
In a recent Systems Engineering seminar at Goddard, Hull summarized requirements that NASA spacecraft and mission engineers are required to follow to prevent new space junk and minimize the risks it poses to other spacecraft — and to you and me.
No NASA spacecraft may remain in low Earth orbit for more than 25 years after the mission ends or 30 years after launch..
Most satellite missions and rocket stages in orbits 370 miles (600 km) or lower will reenter in less than 25 years.
More than 2 million kg (4.4 million pounds) of debris exists in low Earth orbit as well as in geosynchronous orbit. That’s equivalent to the empty mass of about 25 space shuttle orbiters.
NASA’s empty Skylab spacecraft returned to Earth on July 11, 1979, scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and the sparsely settled region of Western Australia.
Keeping space clean
NASA missions must fulfill requirements designed to reduce debris throughout a spacecraft’s lifetime. And debris prevention doesn’t end with the mission.
After the instruments are shut down, NASA requires a debris prevention safeguard called passivation. For example, leftover pressure in propellant tanks is vented so they can’t burst. Internal batteries are disconnected so they don’t accidentally overcharge, build up internal pressure, and explode.
In orbital debris lingo, “disposal” is how a spacecraft ultimately exits orbit. We don’t routinely pluck old rocket stages and spacecraft from orbit and return them to Earth, like a tow truck dragging a broken-down car off the highway. Instead, there are three options for spacecraft disposal:
Park it in a higher “storage” orbit for a few centuries where it’s less likely to bump into anything.
Deliberately steer the craft into Earth’s atmosphere so it can burn up over the ocean.
Wait for the orbit to decay naturally to the point of reentry.
Space junk plugged this hole in the Solar Max satellite.
Hazards to humans
NASA mission designers have to show that a reentry will pose a minimum risk to people. They do this using computer models developed by the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center.
“What we do is to examine each spacecraft design in detail, and estimate how we think it will break up during reentry,” Hull says. “Then we identify the dimensions, mass, and composition of each piece as it is breaking up, all the way down to very small pieces. ”
When a spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere, most of it burns up. But some portions may survive long enough to reach the surface. This is where the 2-lb chicken rule comes in.
When a NASA spacecraft is slated for disposal via uncontrolled reentry, the people in charge of the mission must demonstrate that the risk of serious injury (a 15-joule blow) is less than 1 in 10,000. In effect, the spacecraft has to burn up pretty thoroughly so no large chunks can reach the ground.
“For an average mission,” Hull explains, “a 1 in 10,000 risk equates to only about 85 square feet of the whole Earth surface being at risk of being hit — pretty small.”
For a controlled reentry, the spacecraft operator must also meet the 1 in 10,000 risk rule. But in addition, the debris can’t fall within 300 miles of a foreign country, or within 30 miles of the United States, its territories, or (get this!) the permanent ice pack of Antarctica.
Penguins, polar bears, and seals rejoice: You are (pretty) safe from space junk.
Despite the best efforts of NASA and other space agencies, orbital debris continues to increase. The threat this poses to the future of space science and exploration is fueling many exotic schemes for capturing and removing debris from orbit. Harpoons, nets, lassos, and giant sticky beach balls are all on the table.
The next and final post in this series looks at the prospects for space junk removal.
European Space Agency web site about orbital debris…
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ OH AND DID I MENTION?All opinions and opinionlike objects in this blog are mine alone and NOT those of NASA or Goddard Space Flight Center.
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