Six and a Half Years of Curiosity

About six and a half years ago on August 6, 2012, I got up early to watch NASA TV as they broadcast the landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars. I remember the significant tension of this particular landing because NASA was employing some new technology that had never been used before. They used the usual heat-shield to brake through the upper atmosphere, then deployed parachutes to slow the lander even more. But, what was novel about this landing was the use of a “sky crane” which NASA engineers dubbed, "seven minutes of terror." The Curiosity Rover was much heavier than other craft that had been landed on Mars and so the usual airbag crash would not protect the heavy rover well enough. The sky crane was a rocket-powered descent device that separated itself from the Curiosity Rover with a bridle of three cables and an umbilical cord which allowed the sky crane and rover to communicate with each other. After separating from the rover but remaining attached by the cables, the sky crane fired its rockets to allow for a gentle descent to the surface. Once the rover was gently landed on the ground of Mars, Curiosity communicated this via the umbilical cord so that the sky crane could cut the cables and fly far away to crash elsewhere on the surface of Mars. Won’t humans one day have fun when we finally do travel to Mars and see the various landing and crash sites of such vehicles as the sky crane, Mars 2 (a Russian craft that crashed hard on Mars and did not respond to calls from earth), Viking 1 and Viking 2 (NASA landers that did manage to send back data to earth), Mars Polar Lander (a failed NASA lander), and Spirit (active from 2004 to 2010) and Opportunity Rovers (active 2004 to 2018 when a dust storm forced it into hibernation) two more successful NASA landings? 

What I find amazing is that the Curiosity Rover that I sat watching as it landed in 2012 is still active on the planet, roving over the surface and doing science. And of course, Opportunity Rover holds the record so far for the longest rover mission on the Red Planet. These technological feats of engineering stagger the mind. Once a rover has successfully landed on Mars it must then survive dust-storms that foul moving parts and cloud over solar power systems. Yet these rovers grind on in the cold. The average temperature on the planet is estimated to be around −63 °C, with highs of 20 °C and lows near −153 °C. To be sure, it is not a very hospitable place for a rover.

Yet NASA and other space agencies continue to plan more missions to Mars. Hope Mars 2020 is a United Arab Emirates launch scheduled for July of 2020, Mars 2020 Rover, a NASA venture, will collect samples that will be returned to earth by a later vehicle, and the Exo-Mars Rover 2020 which is a joint effort of the European Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos Agency, will also land in 2020. Japan and China also currently have plans to land landers in 2020 and the Indian Space Research Organization plans to land on Mars in 2022. It seems that all of the nations of the world are involved in this space-race to begin the process of colonizing Mars.

NASA, in collaboration with SpaceX and other private space companies have plans to put humans on Mars by 2033. Other countries around the world are making their own target dates for when they anticipate landing humans on Mars. In the 15 years from 2020 to 2035, what will this kind of competition and cooperation look like? Will this contribute to world peace or add fuel to many world-wide conflicts. Let us pray that the space race may truly be used to satisfy human curiosity rather than human greed. Here's to many more years of Curiosity!

Exploring New Frontiers

Have you heard the news?

It’s raining on the moon.

Man in the T.V. said,

It’s raining on the moon.

Even the scientists

Can’t believe it’s true

They’re showing diagrams

And little moon cartoons

Where we are

Is everything we know

All we’ve got

Is the love we show[1]

We live in a time when it is almost possible to believe anything is possible. The lyrics of a song recorded by Doc Walker speak of the unbelievable times in which we live. Right now is a time of exploration unprecedented since 15^th to 18^th century European colonialism. Humans are preparing to investigate the solar system in ways never done before. Most will be done robotically; take for example the Europa Clipper (https://www.nasa.gov/europa) that NASA plans to launch in 2022 to 2025. This mission will fly close to Jupiter’s moon Europa and take samples of its global ocean by flying through the geysers ejected from the moon surface. This will be an excellent opportunity to determine if microbial life exists below the moon’s icy surface or whether life could possibly exist there.

Lunar landers for Earth’s Moon are planned for 2019 through 2021 with the plan to use the Moon as a base of operations for trips to Mars and other parts of the solar system. Some of these trips will eventually include human flight as well.

Boeing and SpaceX are competing to be the first American companies to return to carrying crew for the International Space Station (ISS) and both anticipate crewed tests of their space-cabins by the end of 2018. This will prepare the United States for a return to leadership in human space exploration. At the same time, Russia is planning crewed flights in their new crew module for 2023 and lunar orbits for 2027.

Of course, Mars is the next big goal. SpaceX appears to be the present leader in the race with their development of the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) which is slated to begin testing in 2019. This is a complete redesign of launching systems and space flight modules capable of interplanetary flight.

SpaceX, Boeing, and NASA may be the biggest and most vocal players in the race for space, but a number of other companies are quietly working on their own plans for robotic and human launches. Blue Orbit, Virgin Galactic, Ariane Space, Stratolaunch Systems, Orbital ATK, and the People’s Republic of China are all developing systems to compete with various aspects of technological prowess in the space race. One of these slumbering giants may yet rise to the forefront.

What did we learn from the New World Race in the 15^thto 18^thcenturies that may be applicable to the current competition? Are there ways in which the countries and companies of the world could collaborate to assist the entire human race? Where is there potential for conflict? Each of us has a part to play in the conversations that will occur in the years to come. May we seek peace and unity in the midst of grand achievements.

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[1]Jude Anthony Cole, Raining On The Moon lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

TESS

If I were to go back to school to take more courses, I think I might take a few courses in orbital mathematics. The number of interesting orbits around masses in space has captured my imagination. Take for example the orbit of the latest NASA orbital space telescope, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). The following graphic shows the path as TESS orbits between the earth and moon, checking in with NASA at regular intervals in its 13.7-day revolutions.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/launch-tess-nasa-boost-search-exoplanets

TESS will be launched April 16, 2018 and will be NASA’s latest space-telescope. It will spend much of its time looking for planets outside of our solar system. Kepler, a similar space-telescope identified more than 5,000 potential exo-planets and TESS is expected to find even more and will focus on finding potentially habitable planets. Once enough potentially habitable planets have been found, scientists can begin to focus on the most promising planets for potential colonization. Of course, none of this will be easy since even the closest of these planets will be several hundred light years away. Someone needs to begin to work on that Warp-Drive to make it possible to quickly visit some of these distant planets.

Cassini

Recently I wrote a sad lament for the Schiaparelli Lander, even as I praised those who had successfully inserted the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) into a near-perfect orbit around Mars. This orbiting communications relay and atmospheric laboratory will serve NASA scientists for the next several years and will eventually support a European Space Agency (ESA) rover on the planetary surface. TGO and the Schiaparelli lander had traveled to the Red Planet together but the lander’s fate was sealed when its landing rockets fired improperly.

On the other hand, NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft was launched in 1997 and arrived in orbit around Saturn in 2004 where both portions of the craft performed flawlessy. As planned, the Huygens lander made a successful touchdown on one of Saturn’s moons (Titan) and transmitted data throughout the landing and approximately 90 minutes of its initial time on the surface. This made Huygens the first Earth vehicle to land on the surface of any planet or moon beyond the asteroid belt of our solar system. Cassini went on to explore Titan and other moons before settling into an orbit around Saturn.

Since leaving Earth in 1997, Cassini has been an amazing spacecraft. Launched in a time when 1-mega-pixel cameras were state-of-the-art, that was the best high-resolution camera with which it could be equipped. Now, most cell-phones carry an 8 to 12 mega-pixel camera. Such are the changes that come with a 20-year mission. Cassini was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, and it has been able to map Saturn’s magnetosphere, has found new Saturnine moons, and studied Saturn’s atmosphere and rings with greater precision than ever before. But, the space-vehicle is getting old. In terms of how much space debris, radiation, and other hazards it has seen, relatively speaking, it is older than the last incarnation of Spock. Automobiles that are 20 years old and older are often considered antique and show up in enthusiast’s collections; this 20-year-old vehicle is still out there serving well.

Numerous remote repairs, software updates, and “farmer-fixes” have had to be performed on this machine to keep it on track; and, by the marvels of contemporary engineering, the technicians at NASA have indeed kept it on its mission. Cassini has two main engines and is still using its primary engine, but those who work on this machine had to switch it over to the back-up attitude-control-thrusters when the first set began to fail several months ago.

There is still an end of the road for even a highly successful mission like Cassini-Huygens. At the end of this month, Cassini’s thrusters will maneuver it into a position that will allow for 22 orbits close to the rings, through gaps between rings, and finally between the Saturnine atmosphere and the inner-most ring. As a Grand Finale (a term actually being used for the final days of this spacecraft), Cassini will plunge into the atmosphere in September of 2017 where it will be vaporized by the heat of friction and crushed by the pressure of the atmosphere. It will indeed be a magnificent curtain-call for one of the most successful space missions of all time.

Links used in researching this article:

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/timeline/#the-grand-finale

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/timeline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_(spacecraft)#Landing_site

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2947/care-and-feeding-of-an-aging-spacecraft/

An interesting hexagonal polar vortex at the north pole of Saturn:

A Robotic Spacecraft Dies

This week was supposed to be a week of good news for the Schiaparelli lander. It was expected that by this time, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) would be relaying information from Schiaparelli to Earth and science experiments would be about to begin on the surface of Mars. The European Space Agency (ESA) did have success in inserting the TGO into orbit around Mars but Schiaparelli did not fare so well. Evidence points to a crash landing on Mars. ESA lost contact with the Schiaparelli craft shortly after its entry into the Martian atmosphere on October 19. ESA believes that two of three phases of the landing succeeded but that something went wrong with the third and final stage of the complex landing procedure.

Phase one of the landing was a controlled air-braking procedure in which a heat-shield allowed Schiaparelli to use the atmosphere to slow the craft and achieve a height of 10 km above the surface of the planet. Next, a 12-meter diameter parachute slowed the craft further, taking Schiaparelli to 1 km above Mars. The final phase of landing was to be a controlled burn of 9 hydrazine rockets which would fire for approximately 30 seconds and bring the craft to 2 meters above the surface, then shut-off and allow Schiaparelli to drop the last 2 meters to the surface with a relatively gentle impact.

What seems clear from the evidence gathered so far is that the hydrazine rockets fired early and did not fire long enough to allow Schiaparelli to slow to zero velocity at 2 meters above the surface. Instead, it is believed that the space-craft fell more than 2 km and landed with a velocity greater than 300 km/hr, crushing the delicate craft and perhaps causing it to explode upon impact. Images of the landing site, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (a NASA orbiter), show both the parachute and Schiaparelli on the surface with a larger than anticipated impact site for the spacecraft.

Meanwhile, the TGO is in its expected orbit around Mars and will go through a series of maneuvers in early 2017 to bring it into a low Mars orbit where it will begin its science missions. TGO will analyse the atmosphere of the planet looking for methane that may have been generated by life on the planet in some stage of its history. Methane could be an indicator of methane-producing bacteria that may have once thrived in water on the Martian surface thousands of years ago.

Despite the set-back of a crash landing, ESA will continue to work towards putting a rover on Mars in the year 2020. We look forward to much more Martian exploration in the years to come.

Schiaparelli

(Click on this thumbnail picture for a larger image.)

This week in solar system navigation, the Schiaparelli Lander was given the necessary software to allow it to land on Mars. Descent and soft touchdown on Mars will be guided by the commands that were uploaded on October 7^th.  The fact that such commands can be transmitted and incorporated into an on-board computer, more than 150 million km (9 light minutes) from Earth is a feat in itself. (Man, I would not want to pay those data roaming fees!) At the time, Schiaparelli and its parent vehicle, the Trace Gas Orbiter, were conjoined and enroute to the Red Planet. Together, these two spacecraft are part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars mission. Schiaparelli is scheduled to land on Mars on October 19 at 8:40 am MDT, while the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will insert itself into orbit around Mars and relay information from the lander. The TGO will also have several science instruments on board with which it will analyze the thin atmosphere of the planet and will play a role in relaying data from other landing missions including a 2020 ESA Rover.

ESA is inviting media outlets to follow the progress of this mission including separation of the two vehicles on October 16^th, Schiaparelli landing on the 19^th, and summary on October 20^th. The media announcement can be seen here. Watch for more exciting news in the days to come, but for now you can watch an animation of the landing on the same media webpage.

Last Man on the Moon

“If you begin to think you're something you're not, you're looking in the wrong mirror.” - Eugene Cernan

I have been watching the Mark Craig directed documentary, Last Man on the Moon (2014). It is great educational entertainment for an Apollo junkie like me. It describes the career path of Eugene (Gene) Cernan as he was transformed from a Navy aircraft carrier, jet pilot to an astronaut during the heyday of lunar exploration from the time of the Gemini missions and right up to the last Apollo mission. The title of the movie comes from the fact that Cernan is the last person to have stood on the surface of the moon which was on December 14, 1972, more than 42 years ago.

Cernan is fascinating. He is both ordinary and extraordinary. He is an ordinary citizen with a Texas Longhorn cattle ranch who enjoys watching a good Texas rodeo. He is an outspoken proponent of space exploration who believes that America has lost something important by not returning to the moon since he last set foot there.

“After Apollo 17, America stopped looking towards the next horizon. The United States had become a space-faring nation, but threw it away. We have sacrificed space exploration for space exploitation, which is interesting but scarcely visionary.”

He believes that humanity as a whole needs a greater degree of curiosity and pioneering ambition. He suggests that we need to ask questions about who we are and our place in the universe.

“Curiosity is the essence of human existence. 'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'... I don't know. I don't have any answers to those questions. I don't know what's over there around the corner. But I want to find out.”

I may be a bit of a product of my own generation (I was 9 years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon) but I tend to agree with Cernan. We do need more pioneering spirit; we do need more curiosity; we should be looking toward the next horizon. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when the horizon is just one goal before reaching toward the next goal. Horizon after horizon after horizon will allow anyone to encircle the earth. Gene Cernan is also very practical and does not see himself as special. He says that, “People try to typecast astronauts as heroic and superhuman. We're only human beings.” May we and all of humanity be as ordinary as Gene Cernan.

Failure is an Option

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." - Elon Musk

I stared at this quote for the last few minutes as the cursor blinked on and off on my laptop screen. I have been wondering if I agree with the entire quote. Does it represent reality? Should it represent reality? I need to parse it out and dissect it to see if I can acknowledge any truth in its sentiments. Allow me to walk you through my logic.

I can say that I agree with the first sentence. Failure is always an option, a possibility, a reality we will experience. All of us have experienced failure in one form or another. It is the second sentence that, at my first reading, was controversial. The first half of the second sentence suggests that there is a course by which we might not fail. I do not think that is the case. Certainly there are “safe” routes that seek to minimize the risk of failure. Many are prone to pursue this path. They seek to recreate experiences and write policies so that what has worked in the past is repeated and standardized. The “let’s not do anything that might fail” philosophy is almost as well documented as the literature on organisations that failed to accomplish their goals because they were afraid to fail. Ed Catmull does a great job of describing this “fear of failure” as it existed in the Walt Disney Studios before Pixar and the Walt Disney company became intertwined.

“At a certain point at Disney, ‘There seemed to be undue emphasis on preventing errors; even when it came to something as small as office décor, no one dared put themselves out there, or to make a mistake.’”[1]

“. . . the leaders of Disney Animation placed a higher value on error prevention than anything else. The employees knew there would be repercussions if mistakes were made, so the primary goal was never to make any . . . But seeking to eliminate failure was in this instance – and, I would argue, most instances – precisely the wrong thing to do.”[2]

Ed Catmull and Elon Musk are both getting at this attitude which suggests there could be a “non-failure route” to innovation and they indicate that it is a myth. Musk is saying that we must have failures and perhaps lots of them to get to a place of innovation. Catmull says something similar in Creativity Inc. So, why am I still struggling with the overall meaning of what Musk is saying?

The crux of the issue comes down to whether or not we think that innovation is a legitimate goal and a high value. After all, we might well do without some of the innovations our world has achieved. The world was, in some ways, quite satisfactory before the invention of the atomic bomb and was significantly less safe after that particular innovation. Some might say that the innovative development of the internet has had both positive and deleterious impacts upon our world. Was this type of innovation a desirable outcome? What of the invention of the electric lightbulb, an innovation which only followed after a great many failures? Despite the fact that one might be able to point to some negative consequences of the light bulb, it would be hard to argue that this innovation has not been of great benefit to humans around the world.

The kind of innovation to which Elon Musk has been working could conceivably have some negative consequences. It could also offer great benefits to humanity. The reality is that humans have been innovating for a long time and they show no signs of deviating from a trajectory of innovation. If innovation is a worthy goal, then the statement by Musk has a significant chance of being an accurate representation of how one should proceed. If innovation is seen as negative and maintenance of current systems is a greater goal, then Musk’s statement is wrong.

Maintenance of working systems can be a realistic goal; but maintenance tends to only work within closed systems where things do not change. As soon as one introduces external changes, an organisation must adjust to maintain balance within a new state of equilibrium. Whether we like it or not, our world is changing; and right now it is changing rapidly. There is good evidence that the organisations that will continue to work will be those that are nimble and can rapidly change with the surrounding environment. Those that stick to policies written during times of stability will find that they are ill-equipped for the new state of the world and will find themselves falling out of the new equilibrium. Thus, organisations must, at the very least, respond to the innovation which is saturating the present world.

Some companies and organisations will not only survive in an ever-changing world, they will themselves become leaders in innovation and will set the direction of that innovation. These are the ones that shape an environment and shape themselves to fit the environment into which they are metamorphosing.  They are prepared for the world into which they arrive. Such change does not come easy. It takes experimentation, rigorous learning from failures and successes, and innovation that remains true to the original purposes of the organisation. In short, such organisations experience failure, learn from that failure, develop a better experiment, and try again in a reasonably ordered fashion, until they succeed. Success and failure are simply two potential results for the continued experimentation. Success, or failure, will still mean that there is work to be done.

The winking cursor has run its course to the bottom of the page and I find myself staring at it once again. The sobering conclusion of this article is that I have convinced myself that Elon Musk might be right. "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." I am willing to innovate and I am willing to fail. I commit to learning as I succeed or fail and, by God’s grace, I choose to innovate and succeed in the mission toward which I am called. Elon Musk may not understand that bit about God’s grace, but I would suggest that it is a vital ingredient in the process. I am thankful for its ever-present illumination upon me.

Works Cited

Catmull, Ed. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the way of True Inspiration. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 2014.

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[1] (Catmull 2014) Location 3790 in Kindle Version

[2] (Catmull 2014) Location 3961-3965 in Kindle Version

Akatsuki Update

On April 1, JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, gave a brief update on the status of their Akatsuki spacecraft now in orbit around Venus. You might recall that this is the exploration vehicle that missed its exit on the way to Venetian orbit and, instead, ended up in orbit around the sun.[1] This orbit took it as close as 90 million kilometers from the sun,[2] which may not sound all that close, but it was close enough to raise concerns that the craft’s mechanics might fail due to excessive heat. Fortunately, after its close encounter with our giant ball of fire, the spacecraft was found to be functioning well.

Approximately five years post launch, trajectory engineers were able to nudge Akatsuki into a suitable orbit around Venus. The orbit is much larger than originally intended: one orbit every 9 days instead of one orbit every 30 hours.[3] However, the onboard cameras have already sent back some impressive images of cloud formations in the upper atmosphere.[4] We can expect much more data and many more updates in the months ahead.

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[1] Thirst, “Yesterday I Missed My Exit on My Way to Sears,” December 10, 2015; http://hungerandthirst4.blogspot.ca/2015/12/yesterday-i-missed-my-exit-on-my-way-to.html

[2] News on Japan, “Akatsuki probe survives close encounter with sun”

http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/111446.php

[3] The Planetary Society, “Akatsuki's new orbit, first images, and science plans”

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/12091630-akatsukis-new-orbit-first.html?referrer=https://www.google.ca/

[4] JAXA, “Topics List,” April 1, 2016, http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/topics.html#topics7299

The Future of Space Exploration

Jupiter and Europa

The 15^th to 18^th centuries were a time of unprecedented exploration of our world. Europeans, with a healthy sense of curiosity, and driven by a desire to conquer new worlds, were the primary instigators. Today, we live in a similar time of exploration as countries and private corporations turn their eyes to our solar system. Led by many organizations from around the world, there is a greater sense of cooperation in this age of discovery. The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA), Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA), and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are all making a mark in space exploration.

NASA is presently developing an Asteroid Redirect Mission in which they will identify, capture, and redirect a near-Earth asteroid. The goal is to capture an asteroid and place it in orbit around the moon so that scientists might study it for generations to come.[1] NASA also plans to send a mission to Europa, one of the large moons orbiting Jupiter. It takes 7 to 10 years to reach the Jovian system and the plan is to launch in the early 2020s, so don’t expect results immediately, but Europa is considered one of the more likely locations for simple extra-terrestrial life because of its large frozen ocean.[2]

ESA too has plans for a Jovian mission. Their spacecraft will visit three of Jupiter’s moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The rationale for this trip is that all three moons likely contain water and might support life.[3] ESA has also expressed interest in establishing a lunar base on our own moon that would serve as a research base, much like the International Space Station. It would make a great jumping off point for even greater space exploration that might include missions to other star systems.[4]

In 2013, the Chinese National Space Agency was the first agency to soft land a spacecraft on the moon since the Russians last did in 1976 (Luna 24). CNSA presently has a lunar rover called Chang'e 3 on the moon’s service and they have stated that they plan many more lunar missions including some sample return missions.[5]

JAXA, in collaboration with ESA, will soon launch a Mercury orbiter that will study the magnetosphere of that planet.[6] Because of its proximity to the sun, and the difficulty of shielding instrumentation from extreme radiation, little is known about this planet; and the JAXA mission will be highly significant.

All of these missions will be of great interest as we watch them unfold over the next decades. I plan to watch each with great expectation, starting with the ExoMars show that has already begun.

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[1] http://www.nasa.gov/about/whats_next.html

[2] http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/nasas-europa-mission-team-joins-forces-for-the-first-time

[3] http://all-that-is-interesting.com/europe-space

[4] http://all-that-is-interesting.com/europe-space

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_3

[6] http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/bepi/index.html

ExoMars

ExoMars is a "Programme to investigate the Martian environment and to demonstrate new technologies paving the way for future Mars sample return missions."[1] The European Space Agency successfully launched their two craft on March 14 on a Russian Proton M rocket and has received signals indicating that the launch was successful. The two craft will continue to travel together for the next seven months and will then separate for two unique tasks shortly before arrival at Mars. The orbiter will measure trace gasses in the Martian atmosphere and will particularly look for gasses such as methane that could be evidence of life on the red planet. The orbiter will also seek to identify the source of these gasses.

Three days before orbit insertion, the two space-craft will separate allowing the Schiaparelli lander to aerobrake, deploy a parachute, use its heatshields, and land in the Meridiani Planum. This area is known to contain "hematite, an iron oxide that, on Earth, almost always forms in an environment containing liquid water."[2]

The Meridiani Planum region is significant because it has been explored by the Opportunity Rover[3] and a good deal of information about potential locations of water and minerals has been determined. If significant amounts of water can be located, it may be possible to use that water to generate electricity and rocket-fuel so that a spacecraft might make a return voyage. To this point, all missions to Mars have been one-way trips. This is what ESA means when they say that this mission could “pave the way for future Mars sample return missions.” ESA, NASA, SpaceX, and the entire scientific community will be watching this mission for the next several months.

Works Cited:

ESA: Robotic Exploration of Mars; “ExoMars.”

Science News, March 11, 2016

Wikipedia, “Meridiani Planum.”

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[1] Science News, March 11, 2016; "ExoMars Mission to Search for Signs of Life on the Red Planet"; accessed 2016-03-16; https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/exomars-mission-search-signs-life-red-planet?tgt=nr

[2] ESA: Robotic Exploration of Mars; “ExoMars”; accessed 2016-03-16; http://exploration.esa.int/mars/47852-entry-descent-and-landing-demonstrator-module/

[3] Wikipedia, “Meridiani Planum,” accessed 2016-03-16; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridiani_Planum

Gravitational Waves, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

“A long time ago in a galaxy far far away” two black holes merged into one. To be more precise, this event happened approximately 1.3 billion years ago in a galaxy in the direction of the Magellanic clouds. We know this because scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravity-Wave Observatories (LIGO) in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana detected the gravitational waves of this massive collision on September 14, 2015. This was the first time gravitational waves had been detected despite the fact that Einstein had predicted their existence 100 years ago.

This is an important discovery that ushers in a whole new way of “seeing” our universe. Not only can we now detect light from distant parts of the universe but we can also detect gravitational waves. This also represents further understanding of what gravity is and how it acts over large distances and propagates at the speed of light. This measurement of gravitational waves immediately becomes a candidate for a Nobel prize.

I have always been fascinated by gravity. It is a force that is difficult to comprehend and describe. The best explanation of gravitational waves is that they represent ripples in the space-time continuum. Gravity is the way we describe the effect of acceleration as objects with mass create dents in space and time.

Not only are we humans fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), our universe is fearfully and wonderfully made. The mysteries of the universe with colliding black holes and gravitational waves are too wonderful for us to understand (Psalm 139:6). Every new scientific discovery gives us greater understanding and reveals more questions that can now be asked. These discoveries continue to have an effect on the study of physics, cosmology, philosophy, and theology. May we never tire in our search for greater knowledge and still be content with mystery. 

A Great Disturbance in the Force

There may actually be a ninth planet in our solar system after all. Astronomers at Caltech recently presented evidence for a large, gas-giant, planet in a 20,000 year orbit around our sun. They have been quoted as saying, "We have felt a great disturbance in the force." This only adds to the crazy nature of this announcement; but they were not referring to Luke Skywalker's famed Force, but rather the gravitational force that keeps all of the planets and dwarf planets in motion around our sun. Their research suggests that the existence of such a planet, in this large elliptical orbit, is one of the best explanations for the measured orbits of the dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. Their argument is presented in an enlightening YouTube video and one of the scientists has been interviewed by CBC's Bob McDonald on the program "Quirks and Quarks." The mass of the planet is said to be greater than that of Earth but less than the mass of Neptune and it is perpetually "very distant" in the solar system. It has not yet been seen with a telescope; but is inferred from its interaction with the features of the Kuiper Belt.

What are the implications of such a discovery? Where should we point our telescopes to begin to look for this planet? There are certain constraints on where this planet could be, but that still leaves a large area to be scanned. The current position in its orbit will be unknown until it can be visualized. This research also invites questions related to the planet’s proximity to other planets in our solar system. What perturbations (dare I say, “disturbances in the force”) will be noted when this planet swings by after a long journey away from the other planets and dwarf planets in our solar system? Might it have noticeable effects on the physics, chemistry, and biology of Earth? Gravity is a relatively weak force but its influence acts over very large distances.

For now, I congratulate Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin and other contributing researchers for their work in this area. May they inspire many more “planet-hunters.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/9th-planet-x-1.3412070

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/distant-planet-may-lurk-far-beyond-neptune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6poHQ2h00ZA

"Yesterday I missed my exit, on my way to Sears" - Joe Diffie

Have you ever had one of those days where you missed your freeway exit and had to take an alternative route? The process can be quite time consuming and often adds several minutes to the anticipated travel time. It is hard not to get frustrated. Of course, such emotions only complicate things and make the trip even less efficient. Recently, a team of Japanese aerospace engineers learned first hand that, in space exploration, one little missed exit can lead to many years of extra work. In 2010, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency was excitedly watching as their Akatsuki probe was moving rapidly toward Venus. All was well until the main engine failed to come online and make the appropriate course correction. The result of this, missed exit on the cosmic freeway, was five years of unplanned wandering in the wilderness. Not only did it mean that Akatsuki would be late for her rendezvous with the “planet of love,” it also meant that, like Icarus, Akatsuki flew too near the sun and singed her wings.

What I like about this story is that the team did not give up on the mission. They knew that this “miss” meant the probability of success was small; but they did not lose focus and they kept seeking solutions to the problem. They still could not rely upon the main engine but knew that every five years Akatsuki would be close to Venus. This would be their window of opportunity. They would use the attitude control thrusters to position the craft for Venus gravity capture. On December 7 at 8:51 am (Japan Standard Time) the gamble paid off and Akatsuki is now in orbit around our “sister planet.” The scientific mission can resume. The probe has been scorched by the sun but remains functional and will soon begin to take continuous pictures of the atmosphere and surface of Venus.

This reclamation of the mission is a testament to tenacity and problem solving. Lesser engineers might have given up on the Akatsuki probe and begun work on a replacement vehicle. These individuals continued to work as a team and redeemed what might otherwise have been seen as a failure. There is something very impressive about this work. May they now enjoy the fruit of their labour as they gather data and explore further questions related to this closest neighbouring planet.

Other Works Cited:

“Japanese spacecraft reaches Venus — five years late”; Science News, December 8, 2015; https://www.sciencenews.org/article/japanese-spacecraft-reaches-venus-—-five-years-late.

“That Road Not Taken,” Joe Diffie, from the album, Third Rock From the Sun;  Listen to it online here. Songwriters: Kelly Casey and Deborah Beasley, Published by The Bicycle Music Company. http://www.metrolyrics.com/that-road-not-taken-lyrics-joe-diffie.html

Venus, Mars, Regulus, and Jupiter Are Alright Tonight

Starship 21ZNA9

A good friend of mine

Studies the stars

Venus and Mars

Are alright tonight

"Venus and Mars" lyrics by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; published by MPL Communications, Inc.

This morning, as I went for my before-sunrise-run, I was greeted by three planets and a bright star, in the eastern sky. The four points of light were Venus, highest and brightest of the four, Regulus, a bright star only 79 light years away, Mars, the red planet, and Jupiter, just above the horizon. They made an inverted vee shape as if they were flying in formation. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Conjunctions of this nature always get me dreaming about space-travel. In my mind’s eye it looked possible to just hop in a plane and fly straight to whichever spot I chose.

Venus would provide a warm but cloudy holiday with lots of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. Regulus would be a long journey, by any mode of transportation, and what we would find there is completely unknown. Mars is becoming the most well-known planet other than earth with the many probes, rovers, and orbiters sending back reams of scientific data. Just this past week it was learned that Mars does indeed have liquid water on its surface at certain times of its solar year. We would have a cold holiday on Mars and would have to bring along our own oxygen for breathing. Jupiter would perhaps be the most exotic vacation destination. Jupiter is a gas giant made up of clouds of frozen hydrogen and helium gas high above a core of liquid metallic hydrogen. The moons around Jupiter would be even more interesting to visit. Io, the largest of the moons, is a hotbed of volcanoes and bubbling pits of molten rock. Europa is covered with a frozen water crust. Perhaps one could have the most fantastic skating party of all time on the surface of Europa.

All of this went through my mind as I ran six kilometers on this boring old terrestrial ball. I turned and ran toward a very bright moon making its way toward setting in the west and I scared a few jack-rabbits with the padding of my athletic shoes. It was a great morning on Earth; but I was dreaming of spending time on other planets. How long will it be before we have colonies on Mars, or the moon, or Venus, or Europa? It is important that we continue to cultivate a desire for exploration that will lead us to other planets, moons, and stars. It is this inquisitive, pioneering, explorative spirit that makes us truly human.

We're Just Here To . . .

Previously I have recommended the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar (here and here) and I will continue to sing its praises even while encouraging us to see it for all it is and look discerningly at its message. As the main character, Cooper, says his good-byes to his family and prepares to leave the galaxy, he makes a statement that suggests depth but perhaps simply reveals the not so deep philosophy of the Nolan brothers who wrote the screenplay for this film.

"We're just here to be memories for our kids." Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in Interstellar.[1]

On the one hand, this is not a bad concept. If we are here to be memories for our kids, we will want to make certain that the memories we leave behind are good memories and we will likely live good lives. But as a true philosophy of life, it falls far short. Our lives have an existence apart from the lives of our children. I will not get on a soap-box and preach a message that defines my own perspective on the purpose of life. Anyone who reads a few pages of this blog will soon discern what my view on this would be. Instead, I encourage you to think further about why we are here. It must be more than just to be memories for our kids. As we consider the joys and horrors of this life, we must at least admit that our purpose is to contribute to the joys and diminish the horrors. What more would you add to this? How would you answer the question of why we are here?

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[1] Interstellar. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. Performed by Matthew McConaughey. 2014.