Shuttle Mission STS-129 came to a completion with Space Shuttle Atlantis landing in Florida on Friday. Atlantis launched on November, 16 and flew nearly 4,500,000 miles.
As the remaining missions for the shuttle fleet wind down, NASA used STS-129 to deliver a slew of replacement parts, and backup devices to the International Space Station, and completed 3 spacewalks.
Space shuttle Atlantis lands on runway 33 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility concluding the STS-129 mission. Photo credit: NASA Jack Pfaller
The landing also saw the return of astronaut Nicole Stott. After 91 days in space after serving as Expedition 20/21 flight engineer, her return marks the last time an I.S.S. crew member will be transferred to or from the space station.
The STS-129 crew in front of Atlantis, dressed in their launch-and-entry suits prior to launch. From left are Mission Specialists Leland Melvin and Randy Bresnik; Pilot Barry E. Wilmore; Commander Charles O. Hobaugh; and Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Robert L. Satcher Jr. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
This is the final shuttle flight of 2009 with the next launch to be STS-130 as Space Shuttle Endeavour heads to I.S.S. in February.
Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven astronauts ended an 11-day journey of nearly 4.5 million miles with a 9:44 a.m. EST landing Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In the history of mankind, common sense has always told us that if you wish to be sneaky, you must make yourself as invisible as possible. The same holds true in space. As some of the most amazing objects (and most dangerous ones), do not quite make the scale as far as emitting visible light goes.
Well these objects will now have no place to hide thanks to the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
At Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers guide the interstage of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket for launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, into place on top of the rocket's first stage in the pad's mobile service tower.
Credit: NASA/Roy Allison, VAFB
Scheduled for a December 9th launch aboard a Delta II rocket, as the name suggests, WISE will use a series of instruments to scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. Dim stars, planets, and clouds will now be seen and charted. Asteroids will be charted as well. Even potentially close asteroids that may pose as a threat to life on Earth.
Instrument wise (no pun intended), WISE will use 3 key pieces of equipment:
A 40 centimeter aperture telescope which views the sky in 4 different infrared wavelengths.
Detectors which measure data by transforming light into electrons, one for each of the infrared wavelengths observed by WISE.
A Cryostat instrument. Since even cold objects emit hardly any visible light, they still emit infrared light. So in order to avoid detecting their own signal, the telescope and detectors must be kept even colder. The system utilizes 2 tanks filled with frozen hydrogen to cool the instruments to nearly -450 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is seen here being hoisted to the top of its United Launch Alliance Detla II rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The spacecraft, which will scan the whole sky in infrared light, is scheduled to blast off on Dec. 9, 2009. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A specific object WISE will be looking for is known as a brown dwarf. These objects are similar to Jupiter as they are balls of gas that were lacking the mass necessary to form into stars. They are cool and faint to visible light, but it is expected that nearly 1,000 will be discovered within 25 light years.
This is the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy as viewed in infrared light. The image is a composite of mid-infrared imagery from the MSX satellite and near-infrared imagery from the 2MASS survey. WISE images will be similar in quality.
Credit: NASA/JPL/UCLA
Looking a little deeper, NASA will be looking for what is known as ultraluminous infrared galaxies, or ULIRGs. These galaxies fill the distant universe, but do not emit much visible light. However in the infrared wavelengths, it is possible that millions of these unseen galaxies will be discovered.
This artist's animation shows NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, rotating in space, revealing all sides of the spacecraft. The spacecraft's orbit is shown next. WISE will orbit over the poles of Earth, staying over the day-night, or terminator, line. Its telescope will always point away from Earth, and its solar panels will face the sun.
Credit: Ball/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, received an award from Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday.
Astronaut Koichi Wakata (left) receives an award from Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (right) on Wednesday. Wakata is the first Japanese astronaut to serve on an I.S.S. crew and the first Japanese astronaut to stay in space for a prolonged period of time. Credit: JAXA
Wakata received the award for being the first Japanese astronaut to stay in space for a prolonged period of time. He was on the International Space Station for 4 ½ months before returning to Earth on July, 31.
Wakata’s first journey to space was during the STS-72 mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on January 11, 1996. His work on I.S.S. began in October of 2000 as a Mission Specialist on the STS-92 mission of Space Shuttle Discovery to I.S.S. This assembly work prepared I.S.S. for its first resident crew.
File photo of Wakata from March, 2007. Credit: NASA
His most recent trip to I.S.S. began as a Flight Engineer on the STS-119 mission of Space Shuttle Discovery in March of 2009. While on I.S.S, Wakata served as Flight Engineer 2 on crews Expedition 18, Expedition 19, and Expedition 20. He became the first Japanese astronaut of an I.S.S. crew. He returned home in July aboard the STS-127 mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Wakata demonstrating a "flying carpet" during his stay on I.S.S.
Scheduled for an upcoming winter launch is a new observatory to study the sun’s influence on Earth and the space around with the use of several instruments studying our star simultaneously on multiple wavelengths.Just one of several upcoming missions to study the sun, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)’s goal is to better understand the energy that generates the suns magnetic field, and the energy used for the creation of solar winds, and other variations in solar activity.
This image illustrates the resolution capabilities of the SDO, STEREO, and SOHO spacecrafts. SDO's AIA instrument (right image) will have 1/2 greater image resolution than STEREO (middle image) and 3/4 greater imaging resolution than SOHO (left image). The image cadience also varies. SDO takes 1 image every .10 of a second. At best STEREO takes 1 image every 3 minutes and SOHO takes 1 image every 12 minutes.
SDO will measure the sun’s interior, its magnetic field, the plasmas of its solar corona, and other areas using 3 instruments. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly which will image the sun’s atmosphere in multiple wavelengths, and compare data from sun’s interior. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager which will extend the capabilities and resolution of the SDO. And the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment which will measure the EUVs spectral irradiance to better understand the effects on the Earth’s Climate and Near-Earth space.
Just one of many instruments aboard the SDO. This is The Extreme Ultraviolet Variablity Experiment. It will measure the solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance with unprecedented spectral resolution, temporal cadence, and precision.
A February 3, 2010 launch date is the current target.
Overview of the Solar Dynamics Observatory mission.
The tallest known auroras in our solar system were discovered as Cassini imaged the first “northern lights” on the planet Saturn.
The auroras have a vertical pattern, which resemble tall curtains flapping in the wind. Some of which are seen 750 miles above the planet’s northern hemisphere.
Auroras occur on Earth as we all know, but they occur on other planets as well in our solar system. The new images from Saturn help us gain more knowledge into how auroras work. “Seeing these things on another planet helps us understand them a little better when we see them on Earth.” said Andrew Ingersoll of the Cassini imaging team.
An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this image recorded by Cassini.
The new data seems to be helping already. Auroras occur when charged particles from a planet’s magnetosphere enter the atmosphere. So the heights of the auroras on Saturn say much about its atmospheric differences compared to the Earth.
The Earth’s atmosphere is mainly oxygen and nitrogen. The atmosphere of Saturn is primarily hydrogen, which is much lighter. This causes the atmosphere to extend out further from the planet, in turn increasing the height of the auroras.
An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this movie recorded by Cassini.
Cassini has imaged the auroras of Saturn before, but that was using its ultraviolet and infrared imaging tools. These new images taken in October were captured with the visible light camera. The images were originally in black and white, but the imaging team enhanced them with a orange false-color to highlight the auroras.
The oxygen and nitrogen of the Earth’s atmosphere are what give our auroras their green, blue, and red colors. More needs to be studied about the atmosphere of Saturn to have a more accurate idea of what the colors of its auroras are.
A Cassini scientist, Dr. Andy Ingersoll, explains the flickering "northern lights" high above Saturn, shown for the first time in a visible-light movie.
A significant event in the life of the International Space Station took place on the 20th of November. ESA, the European Space Agency handed over a new interconnecting module for I.S.S. over to NASA. Node 3, or Tranquility as it was named by NASA, is one of Europe’s final major hardware contributions to the construction of I.S.S., along with a connected observation module known as Cupola
Ownership of ESA's Node 3, Tranquility, the final European-built habitable module for the International Space Station (ISS), was transferred from the European Space Agency to NASA on 20 November 2009.
Those in attendance at the handover were Bernardo Patti, ISS Program Manager in ESA's Directorate of Human Spaceflight, NASA's ISS Program Manager Michael Suffredini, Robert Cabana, NASA's Director of the Kennedy Space Center, William Dowdell, NASA's Deputy for Operations for ISS and Spacecraft Processing, Secondino Brondolo, Head of the Space Infrastructure at Thales Alenia Space Italy and selected media organizations.
ESA's Cupola was mated to Node 3 in September 2009, and is now ready for launch.
Tranquility and Cupola will be carried to I.S.S. by Space Shuttle Endeavor. The current launch date right now is February 4, 2010.
Tranquility will house many systems related to life support including oxygen generation and water recovery. Also, equipment such as a treadmill will be housed there for the purpose of physical conditioning of the crew.
Node 3 consists of a pressurised cylindrical hull 4.5 m in diameter with a shallow conical section enclosing each end. It is almost 7 m long and will weigh together with the Cupola over 13.5 tonnes at launch.
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For now, we leave you with a video. This is a lunar flyover video of the moon created by one of the incredible images captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched this past June. Enjoy the video and thanks for stopping by.
The purpose of this site is to have a forum to post weekly blogs regarding space exploration. News, politics, technology, and anything else related to space exploration will be covered. We will not be limiting ourselves to the work of NASA either. JAXA, ESA, and the commercial sector will be covered as well.
Galaxies, galaxies everywhere - as far as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope can see. This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this galaxy-studded view represents a "deep" core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years. Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team
So join us as we track the greatest feat of exploration our species has ever undertaken, and feel free to submit content yourself. Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned.
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