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Cassini spacecraft collects sample from geyser on Saturn's moon Enceladus

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:23:13 GMT

Friday, March 21, 2008

Space probe Cassini performed a close flyby of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus on Wednesday. The fate of the $3.5 billion mission was in the balance as the bus-sized spacecraft swooped to just 50 km (30 mi) above the surface of Enceladus to sample the frozen spray issuing from geysers on the the moon's surface. The "water" spraying from these geysers is in the form of dust-sized, frozen water particles, which are ejected into space by gaseous water vapors that build up pressure deep within icy fissures on Enceladus.

Cassini's cosmic dust analyzer was unavailable due to a glitch in the updated software that was supposed to provide an increased hit count of the geyser dust particles. However, dust samples were collected before and after the closest approach and the mass spectrometer functioned though out the flyby, providing useful data which is now being analyzed.
Mission controllers will have a chance to capture more geyser dust on October 9, 2008 when they may choose to steer Cassini even closer to the surface of Enceladus.

Tidal flexing of this moon due to the gravitational proximity of its host planet, Saturn, continually heaves and cracks the icy surface. This suggests that Enceladus may have a squishy, liquid-water ocean beneath an icy crust. Deep, parallel fissures in the ice crust, dubbed the "Tiger Stripes", measure warmer than uncracked, stationary surfaces nearby. Friction of these massive, moving plates of ice is thought to provide the heat responsible for the pressurized geysers of sublimated water and ice dust. The presence of these geysers amounts to more empirical evidence of a large, liquid water ocean below the surface of Enceladus.

The Cassini-Huygens space probe is an international mission involving the cooperative efforts of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Launched in 1997, Cassini has orbited Saturn since 2004 but has never before flown so close to a moon. On 14 January 2005, the Huygens lander successfully explored the atmosphere and surface conditions of Saturn's biggest moon, Titan.

Source: Wikinews

NASA Offers Millions For Space Technology Delivered By 2012

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:56:59 GMT

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Sunday, February 24, 2008

NASA seems to have a big interest in acquiring top-notch space travel equipment by the year 2012. They are offering hundreds of millions of dollars to companies who can design and build high tech space travel vehicles. Why is the year 2012 so important to NASA and the Government?

Is this just a goal timetable, or is 2012 the deadline? The NASA website clearly says "no later than 2012", so this is a deadline. According to President Bush's earlier speeches, he plans to put men on the moon again by 2012. He speaks about moon bases, manned Mars missions, and the likes. Why this big space pushes by 2012?

According to the ancients, 2012 is supposed to be the end of Human life, as we know it. A dimensional shift. This theory is just gaining creditability, even though it was preached more than 5,000 years ago. If you are unfamiliar with the theory, Google it. You will be overwhelmed by the results.

One could argue NASA and Other Governmental Agencies are aware of what will happen in 2012, and are preparing for it, and others can argue 2012 is a random date that just happened to fall in the same year as the Ancient Mayans and Sumerians predicted.

In April, 2003 NASA Released This

NASA announced approximately $135 million will be awarded to three competing contractor teams to continue support of NASA's Orbital Space Plane program under the Space Launch Initiative to provide crew rescue and transfer capabilities to the International Space Station. The three system design contractor teams — The Boeing Company of Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Corp. of Denver; and a team including Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif. — will each receive approximately $45 million to design potential candidates for the system, including the Orbital Space Plane vehicle or vehicles, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct a mission to and from the Space Station.

NASA today announced approximately $135 million dollars will be awarded to three competing contractor teams to continue support of NASA’s Orbital Space Plane program under the Space Launch Initiative to provide crew rescue and transfer capabilities to the International Space Station.

The awards are a part of a contract modification of a Cycle 1 Space Launch Initiative solicitation originally awarded in May 2001. This modification extends existing contracts through July 2004.

The Orbital Space Plane program will provide the capability for crew rescue by 2010 and the capability for crews to transfer to and from the International Space Station by 2012.

The three system design contractor teams — The Boeing Company of Seal Beach, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Corp. of Denver; and a team including Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif. — will each receive approximately $45 million to design potential candidates for the system, including the Orbital Space Plane vehicle or vehicles, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct a mission to and from the Space Station.

The contract modification includes work to develop system specifications, including systems analysis, trade studies and concept feasibility in preparation for NASA’s Orbital Space Plane Program’s Systems Requirements Review. The review, scheduled for October 2003, will evaluate the concept design based on the Level 1 requirements — guidelines that lay out the foundation and top-level needs of the system. The review will also set Level 2 requirements that will further narrow the scope of the system design, including requirements for crew safety, cost, and interfacing with launch vehicles and the Space Station.

Once the Systems Requirements Review is complete, the contractors will begin work on the next phase, which includes trade studies, development of a conceptual design that meets Level 2 requirements and supporting analysis leading to NASA’s Systems Design Review, scheduled for April 2004. The Systems Design Review is a NASA-led review to validate the Level 2 requirements and determine Level 3 requirements to more precisely define the needs and specifications of the system. A full-scale development decision by NASA is expected in the fall of 2004.

The Orbital Space Plane program supports U.S. International Space Station requirements for crew rescue, crew transport, and contingency cargo such as supplies, food and other needed equipment. The system will initially launch on an expendable launch vehicle to provide rescue capability for no fewer than four Space Station crew members as soon as practical — but no later than 2010. It will also provide transportation capability for no fewer than four crew members to and from the Space Station as soon as practical -- but no later than 2012.

Author: Author: nana

Source: easyarticles.com

NASA readies Mars lander for launch

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:53:42 GMT

Thursday, July 12, 2007

NASA technicians are beginning final launch preparations on the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft destined for the planet Mars. The unmanned spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida's east coast on August 3, at around 5:35 a.m. EST (9.35 UTC). Phoenix will land in the Red Planet's northern polar region to search for signs of life, and analyze the Martian climate from a polar perspective.

The launch period for Phoenix extends from August 3, 2007 until August 24, 2007 and consists of two launch windows per day. A Delta II rocket will carry the spacecraft into Earth's orbit to begin its 122 million mile journey to Mars.

The journey is expected to last about 9 months, ending around May 28 at a landing site called Vastitas Borealis in the northern arctic plains region of Mars. The site was identified in 2002 by the Mars Odyssey orbiter as having large amounts of water ice just below the surface. The high concentration is necessary to ensure that Phoenix will find water ice within reach of its instruments after landing.

Phoenix will remain on the surface of Mars for about 92 Earth days examining the water ice expected to lie a few inches beneath the rocky surface. The lander contains instruments that will help scientists to determine if life as we know it has ever existed, or currently exists, on this barren planet. The lander will study the atmosphere, surface and subsurface to determine if the Martian arctic soil could have ever supported life. A detailed analysis of the weather will help scientists determine the Martian climate as well as aid in planning future un-manned and eventually manned missions to our planetary neighbor.

Source: Wikinews