SpaceExploration
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ESA team builds self-piloting rover in six months, tests it in Chilean desert
Chile's Atacama Desert might not be true Martian territory, but it's close enough for the European Space Agency's new rover. Built by a crack engineering team in just six months, the Seeker rover was created to autonomously roam 6 km of Mars-like terrain and trace its way back. The Seeker just wrapped up a two week gauntlet in the Chilean wasteland using ol' fashioned dead reckoning and stereoscopic vision to find its way, compiling a 3D map of its surroundings as it puttered along. The full-scale rover wandered the arid terrain on its lonesome until temperatures forced it to stop after trekking 5.1 km. The red planet won't welcome an ESA rover until 2018, but those jonesin' for news from Martian soil should keep their eyes peeled for Curiosity's August touchdown.
China conducts its first crewed spaceship docking, gives east Asia its place in space (updated)
Believe it or not, the only countries to have docked a human-helmed spacecraft in the first 50 years of spaceflight were Russia and the US. That small community just got bigger, as China's Shenzhou-9 has successfully docked with the Tiangong-1 module put in orbit for just such a test. The link-up is being used for experiments in the short term, but it's a key step in a program that will ultimately lead to a full-fledged Chinese space station. On top the wider ambitions, the docking also marks a victory for gender-neutral space travel: Liu Yang, one of three crew members, is the country's first female spacefarer. China's space program has a long road ahead, but it's clear the International Space Station won't be alone for much longer. Update: Yes, China more accurately covers east Asia, not just the southeast. Our apologies!
ArduSat wants to put Arduino satellite, your experiments into orbit
Short of scoring a spot on the ISS experiment docket, putting your scientific aspirations into orbit can be a bit tricky. Why not try crowdsourcing your way into space? ArduSat's barking up that very tree, asking Kickstarter contributors to help them get a Arduino CubeSat off the ground. Headed by NanoSatisfi, a tech startup operating out of NASA's Ames Research Center, the project hopes to raise enough funds to launch an Arduino bank and a bevy of open-source sensors into orbit. The payoff for backers? Access. Varying levels of contribution are rewarded with personalized space broadcasts, remote access to the space hardware's onboard cameras and even use of the machine's sensors to run experiments of the backer's own design. If all goes well, the team hopes to launch more satellites for the everyman, including a unit dedicated to letting would-be stellar photographers take celestial snapshots. Sure, it's far cry from actually launching yourself into the stars, but would you rather be a tourist, or a scientist? Check out project at the source link below, and mull over that for awhile.
China planning manned mission to its own space station, didn't want to be on the ISS anyway
State news agency Xinhua is reporting that China is planning to launch a manned spacecraft later this month. A Shenzhou-9 capsule and rocket are already in place, and when it launches it'll manually dock with the nation's space station: Tiangong-1. The nation is moving quickly to capitalize on its successes last year, after learning how to dock two objects in high-speed orbit. Once both are linked up, the three astronauts on-board would move across to perform scientific experiments before returning to Earth in the craft, as you do. [Image Credit: China Daily]
Animated video shows Orion spacecraft in orbit
NASA may have pushed back the Orion spacecraft's test flight to 2014, but you can get an early glimpse of the capsule in orbit thanks to this animated video from Full Werks studio. You'll see the capsule circle the planet before touching down in the Pacific -- all with a much better view than you can expect when that actual launch date rolls around. The animation features audio clips from the original Apollo and, as any NASA-related video worth its salt should, includes a vintage voiceover from space sage Carl Sagan.
Planetary Resources reveals plan for prospecting asteroids, creating interstellar gas stations
The cat got let out of the bag a little early, but Planetary Resources has now officially announced its existence and mission. We already told you that the venture plans to mine asteroids for profit, and is backed by a bunch of bigwigs from Silicon Valley and Hollywood. But now we know a bit more about the company after watching its announcement webcast and speaking with co-founder Peter Diamandis. Turns out, the company sees itself not only as a business venture, but as an entity that will pave the way for extending human influence throughout the solar system. Read on after the break for more.
IBM: 'We must build an Exascale computer before 2024' (video)
ASTRON has enlisted the help of IBM to lead a five-year, $43 million project to develop and build a supercomputer for the new Square Kilometer Array. The SKA is a $2.1 billion initiative to construct the world's largest radio telescope across a 3,000km strip of Australia or South Africa. It's hoped to be around 50 times as powerful as the dishes we currently point heavenward and will be used to examine the deepest reaches of space to learn more about the formation of the universe. When it goes live in 2024, it'll produce an Exabyte of data each day: twice as much information as there is traffic on the internet in the same period. Of course, no existing computer could handle the job, so Big Blue has a slim 12 years in which to turn nascent technologies like Nanophotonics, 3D chip stacking and phase change memory amongst others into a practical, workable Exascale computer. Its either that, or somehow daisy-chain 100 million PCs with enough power and cooling fans to keep it all working and hope for the best. If you'd like to know more, then head on past the break, although unfortunately it won't count as college credit.
GENIE rocket system does smooth VTOL, lateral flight, cheap trips to Mars (video)
NASA can't just park up in the middle of space and rely on Robotnaut 2 for its entertainment. Actually, it probably can, but at some point the urge to explore new worlds will become too strong to resist. That's when it'll need a suborbital rocket guidance system like the GENIE ("Guidance Embedded Navigator Integration Environment"), which transforms a flood of sensory data into reliable and autonomous maneuvers. Fortunately, the system's economics make a whole lot more sense than its name, which is why NASA is depending on technology like this to control the next generation of affordable and reusable space craft. The test flight shown after the break can only boost GENIE's chances: it took a Xombie rocket up to 160 feet and then made it fly laterally for another 160 feet before landing with a degree of swagger that makes the previous flight in 2010 look plain rickety.
Report: Orion test flight pushed back to 2014, manned flight delayed until 2021
Even something as exhaustively planned as the test-flight of the Orion spacecraft isn't immune to a slipping timeline. It's reportedly been pushed back from next year to 2014 -- when we're expecting to see the capsule launch from Cape Canaveral, loop around the planet twice at 3,700 miles (the furthest any spacecraft has journeyed since the '70s) before splashing down in the Pacific. This unmanned test was designed to see if the vehicle's heat-shield, flight-software and parachutes all work before lives are risked on board. It's also signified a pushing back of the first launch from 2016 until 2021. This means there's nine more years before someone calls us up as a crew replacement -- at least that's how our dream goes.
Phobos-Grunt Mars probe to die a fiery death in the next two weeks
Russia's latest attempt to visit the Red Planet has, unfortunately, gone as well as its previous attempts, which is to say... poorly. We've been tracking the satellite, named Phobos-Grunt, since its successful liftoff, failure to leave earth orbit, abandonment, and now, destruction. Estimates indicate that Phobos-Grunt will reenter our atmosphere sometime between January 6th and the 19th, when it'll break into pieces and meet its end as a flaming ball of interplanetary fail. One consolation for the Ruskies: $165 million down the tubes is a lot less than, say, $1.2 billion.
NASA looks to send landers to Europa in 2020, wants to break the ice
There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Jupiter's moon Europa, but researchers at NASA seem fairly certain that there's a watery ocean lurking beneath its icy exterior. Their theories may finally be put to the test later this decade, thanks to a concept mission crafted by astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. According to Space.com, JPL researchers have come up with a plan that would send a pair of landers to Europa by 2026, in the hopes of finding out whether the rock has ever supported life forms. The endeavor certainly wouldn't be easy, since Jupiter blankets its moon in heavy radiation, but researchers think they can mitigate these risks by sending in an extra lander as backup, and by keeping the mission short and sweet. Under the plan, each 700-pound robot would use a mass spectrometer, seismometers and a slew of cameras to search for any organic chemicals that may be lodged within the moon's ice. Neither craft will sport a protective shield, so they'll only stay around the planet for about seven days, so as to avoid any radiation damage. At this point, the mission is still in the concept phase, though the JPL is hoping to launch both landers by 2020. JPL researcher Kevin Hand was quick to point out, however, that this would be a "habitability mission," and that NASA doesn't expect to find any signs of current life on Europa. Lars von Trier was unavailable for comment.
ESA abandons Russian space probe, hopes it doesn't plummet to earth
Things have gone from bad to worse for the orbit locked Phobos-Grunt space probe, having lost contact with the European Space Agency, the probe faces abandonment and disaster. The soviet star-gazer got stuck in Earth's orbit shortly after launch, stunting its two and a half year jaunt to the Martian moon Phobos. Attempts to send commands that would break the craft loose of the Earth's grip have failed, and the ESA has since given up hope of contacting the probe. The Russians will continue to try and reestablish contact with the probe, hopefully avoiding an expensive disaster. Weighing 13.2 metric tons, most of which is fuel, the probe threatens to return to Earth with a bang, crashing down to terra firma with a toxic payload. It's certainly not been a good couple of months for Euro based space travel. In the meantime let's just hope it doesn't bump into anything else while it's up there, or you might miss the big game.
Lockheed Martin shows us how it's getting Orion ready to explore the cosmos
It's not every day that America designs an entirely new spacecraft. Rarer still is the creation of a vehicle that can carry man, not just machine, beyond the earth's gravitational pull. In the history of the world, there have been only eight such human transports: the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz capsules from Russia, the American-made Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, plus the Space Shuttle, and China's Shenzhou spacecraft. That list is going to get a new member soon, as NASA (with a big assist from Lockheed Martin) is building the most technologically advanced spaceship the Earth has ever seen; the aptly-named Orion. In ancient Greek mythology, Orion was a hunter born of the earth who was eventually placed among the heavens by Zeus. NASA's Orion is a multipurpose crew vehicle (MPCV) that looks similar to the Apollo capsules and is here to replace the venerable Space Shuttle. It's capable of taking us further into the cosmos to than we've ever been -- to asteroids, the moon, and even Mars. This mission flexibility and interplanetary reach is what sets Orion apart from previous manned spacecraft, but that adaptability requires some heavy duty engineering and extensive testing to guarantee its ability to handle any NASA mission with aplomb. Head on past to break to learn more about how Lockheed Martin's getting the MPCV ready for deep space.
Russian and Chinese satellites going to Martian moon, plan to bring back some of the Red Planet (update: stranded in Earth orbit)
Russia just finished its Mars500 simulation, proving that man can handle the arduous task of traveling to and from the Red Planet -- or at least it proved man can live in a confined space for 520 days with dodgy internet. However, Moscow needs to know a bit more about Mars itself before shooting citizens to our planetary neighbor, so it's sending a satellite to collect soil samples from one of its moons. The Russian satellite, named Phobos-Grunt, launched earlier today with the Chinese satellite Yinghuo-1 onboard as well. Both are bound for the Martian moon Phobos and are scheduled to arrive in September of 2012, whereupon Yinghuo-1 will be dispatched into orbit around Mars and Phobos-Grunt will begin maneuvering for its final descent onto the moon's surface. After landing, a robotic arm will examine some extra-terrestrial soil on site and gather 200 grams more to fire back to terra, where it's scheduled to touch down in Kazakhstan by August of 2014. If humans can get some Martian dirt back to Earth without incident, shouldn't be hard to do the same thing with a man, right? Update: Well, that was quick. It looks like Phobos-Grunt may not be bringing back soil samples from Mars, folks. Apparently, the launch went off without a hitch, but after achieving Earth orbit, the engine needed to get it into deep space failed to fire. Right now the Russians are working on a fix, but Phobos-Grunt has just two weeks of juice in its batteries before it becomes space junk. Good luck, fellas, you're going to need it.
NASA developing tractor beams, no plans for Death Star... yet (video)
Fully functional LightSabre aside, a tractor beam has to be high on most geek wish-lists; lucky for you NASA has started working on one. Before you drop your sandwich (or whatever that object in your left hand is), this won't be for sucking up star cruisers, but the more modest task of sample and space dust collection. The basic concept has already been proven, but now NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist has given boffins $100,000 to make the dream a reality. Three potential methods are already on the table, which in lay-terms resemble laser tweezers, a light vortex and a conceptual rippling beam. Once developed, it could signal the end of traditional mechanical sample collecting -- and just plain luck -- consigning robotic arms to the history books. Check the video after the break for science-tastic mock up of how it might work.
SETI comes back from the financial dead, gets a check from Jodie Foster
Roswell devotees, dry those tears -- the search for alien overlords frenemies is back on. Four months after going into financial "hibernation," SETI's Allen Telescope Array has been temporarily resuscitated thanks to an infusion of publicly raised funds from the SETIStars program, and Ms. Jodie Foster. The web campaign for those-who-believe raised over $200,000 in just 45 days, enough cash to get the Paul Allen-funded dishes scanning the skies for at least five more months. Tom Pierson, the institute's CEO, is hoping to secure long-term funding for the project from the U.S. Air Force, which could use the array during the daytime "to track orbital objects that otherwise might pose a threat to the International Space Station and other satellites." However Pierson manages to keep the fleet of skyward-facing ears afloat, one thing's for sure -- the truth is out there and tracking it's a hustle.
Trojan asteroid caught circling Earth, the Greeks deny involvement
Hide your kids, hide your wife, there's an asteroid circling Earth's orbit and we're all gonna... be just fine? Yeah, no need to stock up those '60s fallout shelters folks, this approximately 1,000 feet wide space rock is sitting pretty and safe in one of our Lagrange points. The so-called Trojan asteroid, known as 2010 TK7, was uncovered 50 million miles away by the infrared eyes of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope, and is the first of its kind to be discovered near our humble planet. Typically, these near-Earth objects (NEOs) hide in the sun's glare, but this satellite's unusual circuit around our world helped WISE and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope confirm its existence. The finding has our best and brightest giddy with the hope similar NEOs "could make excellent candidates for future robotic or human exploration." Unfortunately, our new planetoid friend's too-high, too-low path doesn't quite cut the space mission mustard. No matter, 2010 TK7 still gets to call "First!"
SKA radio telescope to pump out more data than the internet in 2020, spot ALF before he lands
Unfortunately for Desmond Dekker fans, this SKA telescope has nothing to do with the Jamaican music sensation. No, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope has much more otherworldly concerns, and according to the director of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Peter Quinn, it should have the internet beat in terms of data when it goes online in 2020. The telescope, which will end up in either Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa, is aimed at searching for Earth-like planets, extraterrestrial life, dark matter, and black holes, and will require a central supercomputer with "the processing power of one billion PCs." What's more, it is expected to be 10,000 times more powerful than any telescope in existence and "generate the same amount of data in a day as the entire planet does in a year." We say anything that gets us closer to having our very own hairy, Hawaiian-shirt sporting alien on hand is well worth the $2.1 billion it will cost to create. Willy!
NASA asteroid mission could explain how life began (and how ours might end)
There's a slight chance that the Earth could get hit by an asteroid in about 170 years, but don't you worry -- NASA's all over it. This week, the agency announced a new mouthful of a mission known as Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, for short. The $800 million initiative, part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, will send a spacecraft to link up with 1999 RQ36 -- a nearby asteroid that's likely rich in carbon and other organic molecules that could explain how life forms originated. After about four years of space travel, the craft should get close enough to map the asteroid's surface, before using its robotic arm to extract at least two ounces of material and return it to Earth by 2023. Scientists will also pay close attention to something known as the Yarkovsky effect, which determines how an asteroid's path changes as it absorbs and emits energy from the sun. OSIRIS-REx will attempt to measure this affect for the first time, perhaps allowing NASA to predict the trajectories of potentially hazardous asteroids -- including the RQ36. The 1,900-foot wide rock is expected to approach Earth by the year 2182 and, according to recent estimates, there's a one in a thousand chance that it could actually strike our planet. Now if you excuse us, we have to go prepare a bunker for our great-great-grandchildren. Head past the break for a video and full press release.
NASA commits to Orion-based Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for space exploration
There's been a lot of talk of things coming to an end at NASA lately, but there are also some new beginnings, and the space agency has now officially filled in one big gap. It's announced that the so-called Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (or MPCV) will be its go-to space exploration vehicle for missions beyond Low Earth Orbit -- presumably, the individual spacecraft will get names more up to the level of boldly-named vehicles like Endeavor and Atlantis. If it looks a little familiar, that's because the MPCV will be based on the Orion spacecraft that was developed under the now-canceled Constellation program and, like it, it will be built by Lockheed Martin. Once it's put into service, the spacecraft will be capable of carrying four astronauts on missions up to 21 days, and it could even be used as a backup for cargo and crew delivery to the ISS. To actually get into space, it'll blast off atop a heavy lift rocket, and then splash down Apollo-style in the Pacific Ocean. Head on past the break for NASA's official announcement.
