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.

---

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

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:

Farewell Philae

The European Space Agency has had no new news on the Philae Lander since July 20^th. It seems safe to say that we should bid Philae a fond farewell. The Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has accomplished many of its aims; but, the lander achieved only a small portion of its goals due to a bouncy landing on the comet. The comet has very weak gravity and so it was difficult, to say the least, to achieve a landing. The landing could be compared to dropping a Wham O Superball off of a skyscraper and predicting where it would land. Philae was able to send back 57 hours of data and photos from three locations on the comet as it bounced, rocked, and rolled its way to an unstable resting place and then “collected its thoughts” regarding its unexpected position. ESA had expected that they would have much more time to collect data sent from Philae. The “little lander that could” was supposed to rest comfortably in a place where the sun would shine on its solar panels and provide it with plenty of power. But a troublesome cliff that blocked the activity of the solar cells proved too difficult to overcome.

Meanwhile, Rosetta, the Comet orbiter and companion vehicle to Philae has sent back a wealth of data and photos. (See the links here and here as well.)  Rosetta is relaying information that shows how a comet responds to solar winds as it gets closer to our sun. Rosetta, along with Philae, has also shown that the comet itself is not magnetised, answering one of the great questions about comets and their activity.

The European Space Agency has truly sparked our collective imagination regarding comets in our solar system. They have faithfully exhibited the pioneering and exploratory spirit that shows humanity at its best. We thank them for their work and their expansion of our knowledge regarding science and the dynamics of comets.

Mountains of Ice

Suddenly, we know for a fact, that there are entire mountains of water ice on Pluto. After four years of drought, wouldn't Californians love to bring one of those mountains home to replenish their reservoirs? The photos sent back by the New Horizons spacecraft have been widely spread across many news services and, by now, we have all seen some of them. New Horizons took 9 years to travel from earth to the Kuiper Belt, within which Pluto resides. The exploration and the amazing series of photos sent back to earth has reopened the debate on whether or not Pluto should be considered a planet. For now, astronomers will leave Pluto in the official classification of "dwarf planet." The bigger question is, "Why do we explore the far reaches of our solar system?" Some would try to put a pragmatic spin on the things we can learn from such an expedition, and certainly there is value in what we learn about the propulsion of vehicles through 5 billion miles of space and the things we learn about the Kuiper Belt itself. Yet, the more sincere answer to the question is that it satisfies our curiosity. Humans simply want to know as much as we can know about what is out there.

Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named) once said, “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” Whether it is by telescope, by robotic spacecraft, or simply by experimentation and our own observations of the universe, humans continue to explore. As a people, and as individuals, we must never lose such curiosity; for curiosity is at the root of true education. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “. . . at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.”

So let us continue to praise the technicians, astronomers, researchers, and propulsion experts who gave us these amazing pictures of a dwarf planet billions of miles away. Let us never stop being curious. Let us never stop exploring.

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot

Postcards from Pluto

The latest images from the New Horizons spacecraft, which is headed for a rendezvous with Pluto on July 14th, show a series of four dark spots on the lower edge of the visible disc. The pictures were taken on June 25th and 27th when the vehicle was approximately 22 million kilometers from Pluto. Some are speculating that these spots may be evidence of clouds in the atmosphere and the shadows those clouds create on the dwarf planet's surface. Analysts will continue to watch for other developments as New Horizons continues to approach Pluto and its moon Charon. The atmosphere of Pluto is certainly one of the significant aspects of study for this probe and New Horizons raced to get to the planet before the atmosphere could freeze over on its long journey away from the sun (see my previous blog here).

Click on this image to see a larger picture.

NASA's website will have more images and live commentary as the probe gets closer to her July 14th flyby. Check back with them regularly for more information.

Making Scientific Discovery Interesting

The Making of Ambition

Lukasz Sobisz, is the Technical Director of Simulation for Platige Image's film, Ambition. The film is directed by Tomek Baginski and stars Aidan Gillen and Aisling Franciosi. In an interview about the European Space Agency's Rosetta Mission and the accompanying film, Ambition, Sobisz expressed his surprise that the European Space Agency would need the creative skills of the film-making company for which he works.

I'm very surprised you need something like this at all now. Mankind sends a probe into space to catch a comet and land on it, and we need a great director, film, and actors to convince people this is interesting.1

Works Cited:
Ambition. Directed by Tomak Baginski. Performed by Platige Image. 2014.
The Making of Ambition. Directed by Wojciech Jagiello. Performed by Lukasz Sobisz. 2014.

1 (Sobisz 2014)

Rosetta and Philae: Hello My Friend, Hello

Rosetta and Philae Communicating Again

In November of 2014, the Rosetta spacecraft delivered the Philae lander to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (see my previous blog here). This represented the first soft landing of a spacecraft onto a comet. This in itself was a great accomplishment despite the fact that the mission did not go quite as planned. The Philae lander was intended to send back data on the composition of the comet but landed in a region where its solar panels were shaded by a cliff and, after 57 hours of operation, it could not recharge sufficiently to achieve all of its science operations. The onboard computers powered down into hibernation mode and its orbiting partner, the Rosetta spacecraft lost radio contact with the lander.

However, as anticipated, as the comet has continued its approach to the sun, and solar energy has become more intense, the Philae lander has been able to recharge sufficiently to reconnect with the Rosetta orbiter. The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed that on June 19, 2015 several packets of lander information were delivered to Rosetta1. The two spacecraft are again communicating and this is a very hopeful sign for the mission analysts. The comet will make its closest approach to the sun on August 13 and the agency is hopeful that the increasing solar intensity will allow the lander to continue to gain charging capabilities and restart its science operations.

Meanwhile, the Rosetta spacecraft continues to send images and scientific data to earth as the ESA has extended its mission until September 2015. Rosetta will continue sending back images and data related to the comet while anticipating more data from the Philae lander. The European Space Agency continues to dream about how best to utilize both vehicles and is now considering landing Rosetta on the comet at the end of its lifespan. The ESA even has a cool mini-movie that addresses the importance of such missions that is designed to inspire ambition. Check it out here.

1 http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/19/rosetta-and-philae-in-contact-again/

Cassini and Hyperion

The Cassini spacecraft recently completed a close flyby of Hyperion, one of the moons of Saturn, and sent back some amazing pictures. Hyperion is certainly one of the more odd shaped moons in our solar system. Whereas people used to think Earth's moon was made of cheese, Hyperion truly looks like Swiss cheese. The surface and interior of the moon are filled with pores and tunnels giving it the appearance of a sponge. In fact, much of the planet is made of water ice with very little solid rock. There are so many holes in the moon that if you could find a pool of water large enough, say our own Atlantic Ocean, the moon would float with about half of its bulk sticking out of the water. Hyperion is known to have an erratic rotation. It wobbles on its own axis and its orbit about the planet is eccentric and highly influenced by its proximity to Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

The Cassini robotic spacecraft itself has had an amazingly successful mission in space. Originally launched in October of 1997, the spacecraft is now in its second mission extension which will see it perform active scientific observations through 2017. On its way to Saturn, Cassini flew past Venus and Jupiter, relaying information on each of those planets before achieving orbit around Saturn in July of 2004. In December of 2004, Cassini released the Huygens probe which successfully landed on the surface of Titan, sending back 350 pictures of this large moon. This latest flyby of Hyperion is the last for that moon. Now Cassini sets its sites on other moons in the Saturnian system. In 10 days Cassini will fly past Dione and send back images of that moon. Today, she is in position to get a good look at Enceladus and the outer rings of Saturn (see the image below).

We live in a time when it is possible to learn much from the exploration of our solar system. I am thankful for the scientists and technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that use their imaginations to design and execute such amazing missions to the outer reaches of our solar system.

Works cited:
Cassini–Huygens in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens

Hyperion (moon) in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(moon)

NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Saturn, Cassini, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Science News, "Cassini gets last look at Saturn’s spongy satellite Hyperion," 2015-06-04, https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/cassini-gets-last-look-saturn%E2%80%99s-spongy-satellite-hyperion?tgt=nr

You can click on these images for a larger view.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

"Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by."

Earlier this week, the Rosetta spacecraft reached the end of a ten year journey and delivered the Philae lander to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After a bouncy landing in the open planes, the lander came to rest too close to a cliff to recharge its batteries with solar panels. This caused the computers on the washing-machine sized vehicle to power down into hibernation mode. Mission scientists are hopeful that it may yet achieve a better position relative to our sun and charge its batteries enough to wake up. But, for now, it must slumber in deep heavenly, frigid, peace.

Meanwhile, the comet, barely perturbed by the added weight and jostlings to its orbital path, continues on in a slow arc around the sun. This trajectory will sling it close to the sun and then hurl it back out beyond the orbit of Jupiter. The Rosetta spacecraft, like a dog whose master has died, will remain close beside, looking for some sign of life. The little lander that could is now one more piece of interplanetary material circling the sun and waving to earth as it flies by each 6.5 years. As it sails past we salute the spirit of those who served her so long and so well. We greet with honour this marvel of engineering that has once more excited dreams of far off worlds and places unexplored.

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. . . . sleep in heavenly peace."