Astronomy

[Dreamwoven]

In Popular Astronomy p.19, China is clearly investing in Moon exploration. I December 2013 the Chang'e 3 mission delivered their Moon Rover, Jade Rabbit, to the Moon. Designed to last 3 months it has kept up exploring and lasted for more than 2 years. Returning to the Chang'e 3 lander each night helped. Jade Rabbit is equipped with a "small robotic telescope". Chang'e 4 will be launched in 2018 intending to explores the far side of the Moon. The Moon is tidally-locked and so this will be a new and interesting mission.

NASA has decided to make the next giant leap and will explore the moon. See https://www.space.com/38379-united-s...ike-pence.html.

[Dreamwoven]

It is Popular Astronomy's comprehensive coverage that is it strong advantage over other websites, like the Swedish version Populär Astronomi which comes out every 3 months and is far less thorough in its coverage of news.

[Dreamwoven]

Another report in Popular Astronomy (Nov-Dec 2016 p. 5) is on sampling mission by NASA to the asteroid Bennu. It was launched on 8 September 2016, and is expected to take 2 years to reach Bennu. It will change its course as a result of the Yarkovsky Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkovsky_effect resulting from heat from the Sun on the asteroid. This might result in the asteroid hitting Earth (less than 1% chance in the 23rd century). It should reach Bennu by 2018, taking samples over an 18 to 24 month period. It is unclear whether the sampling will be done and analysed at Goddard or taken by another mission.

You can read more about it at this link:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey

[Dreamwoven]

Another report in Popular Astronomy is on sampling mission by NASA to the asteroid Bennu. It was launched on 8 September 2016, and is expected to take 2 years to reach Bennu. It will change its course as a result of the Yarkovsky Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkovsky_effect resulting from heat from the Sun on the asteroid. This might result in the asteroid hitting Earth (less than 1% chance in the 23rd century). It should reach Bennu by 2018, taking samples over an 18 to 24 month period. It is unclear whether the sampling will be done and analysed at Goddard or taken by another mission.

You can read more about it at this link:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey

[Danik 2016]

In Popular Astronomy p.19, China is clearly investing in Moon exploration. I December 2013 the Chang'e 3 mission delivered their Moon Rover, Jade Rabbit, to the Moon. Designed to last 3 months it has kept up exploring and lasted for more than 2 years. Returning to the Chang'e 3 lander each night helped. Jade Rabbit is equipped with a "small robotic telescope". Chang'e 4 will be launched in 2018 intending to explores the far side of the Moon. The Moon is tidally-locked and so this will be a new and interesting mission.

NASA has decided to make the next giant leap and will explore the moon. See https://www.space.com/38379-united-s...ike-pence.html.

Lol! Jade Rabbit is a curious name for a mission. I hope they leave real rabbits out of it. I think that one reason why they want to return to the moon is because men on the moon makes for headlines. And as we noticed several time, there seems to be quite an human obssession to dominate other parts of the universe besides the earth.

[Danik 2016]

Another report in Popular Astronomy is on sampling mission by NASA to the asteroid Bennu. It was launched on 8 September 2016, and is expected to take 2 years to reach Bennu. It will change its course as a result of the Yarkovsky Effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarkovsky_effect resulting from heat from the Sun on the asteroid. This might result in the asteroid hitting Earth (less than 1% chance in the 23rd century). It should reach Bennu by 2018, taking samples over an 18 to 24 month period. It is unclear whether the sampling will be done and analysed at Goddard or taken by another mission.

You can read more about it at this link:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey

An amazing mission, but I hope it doesn´t hit the earth. Now that we know that the sky between planets isn´t empty, but full of stellar debris, the fear of colisions seems to have increased.
Just now opening PC on a rainy Saturday morning at 11 AM, probably four or five hours after European time.

[Danik 2016]

Lol!There they come with their ice cubes again. I wonder when we will have the first spacial manufactured burger.
More on:
A cheaper way to stock up in space
A NASA mission is sponsoring undergraduate research to test space-based manufacturing.

Access the corrected link at #1210.

[Dreamwoven]

I share those doubts about setting up a community on Mars, I think many people jumped at the idea without thinking it through. That includes Musk. A luna base is much more practical.

The link in the previous post doesn't work. It must be a regional thing...

[Dreamwoven]

This is from the notes I still get from my subscription to the Society for Popular Astronomy.

HIDDEN SITES FOR HUMAN HABITATS ON MOON AND MARS
Europlanet Media Centre

Lava tubes --underground caves created by volcanic activity -- could
provide protected habitats large enough to house streets on Mars or
even towns on the Moon, according to research presented at the
European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2017 in Riga. A further
study shows how the next generation of lunar orbiters will be able to
use radar to locate such structures under the Moon's surface. Lava
tubes can form in two ways. 'Overcrusted' tubes form when low-
viscosity lava flows fairly close to the surface, developing a hard
crust that thickens to create a roof above the moving lava stream.
When the eruptions end, the conduit is drained, leaving a tunnel a few
metres beneath the surface. 'Inflated' tubes are complex and deep
structures that form when lava is injected into existing fissures
between layers of rock or cavities from previous flows. The lava
expands and leaves a huge network of connected galleries as it forces
its way to the surface. Lava tubes are found in many volcanic areas
on Earth, including Lanzarote, Hawaii, Iceland, North Queensland in
Australia, Sicily, and the Galapagos islands. Underground networks of
tubes can span up to 65 kilometres. Space missions have also observed
chains of collapsed pits and 'skylights' on the Moon and Mars that
have been interpreted as evidence of lava tubes. Recently the NASA
GRAIL mission provided detailed gravity data for the Moon that
suggested the presence of enormous sub-surface voids related to lava
tubes below the lunar 'maria', plains of basalt formed in volcanic
eruptions early in the Moon's history. Scientists have also presented
a concept for a radar system specifically designed to detect lava
tubes on the Moon from orbit. The radar will probe beneath the lunar
surface with low-frequency electromagnetic waves and measure the
reflected signals. Such a radar instrument could determine accurately
the physical composition, size and shape of the caves and obtain a
global map of their locations. The studies show that a multi-
frequency sounding system is the best option for detecting lava tubes
of very different dimensions. The simulations show that lava tubes
have unique electromagnetic signatures, which can be detected from
orbit irrespective of their orientation with respect to the radar
movement direction. Therefore, an orbiter carrying such an instrument
could make a crucial step towards finding safe habitats on the Moon
for human colonisation.

[Danik 2016]

Well, at this state of development, I wouldn´t envy the first colonizators. But many human discoveries started as human obsessions I think.


Sorry, DW. I corrected the link. It should open now.

http://astronomy.com/news/2017/10/sp...on-up-in-space

[Dreamwoven]

Dagens Nyheter has a page-long report on the 60th Anniversary of the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union. This can be said to be the birth of the Space Age. Followed by the first Soviet astronaut in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the development of NASA that we see today.

[Dreamwoven]

Separately, I thought the idea of tunnels on planets and moons was very interesting (see post #1209 above), as it would be a neat development of habitations in outer space environments.

[Danik 2016]

Separately, I thought the idea of tunnels on planets and moons was very interesting (see post #1209 above), as it would be a neat development of habitations in outer space environments.

Yes, I read it, but it doesn´t sound very cosy to me. Something like Space Cavern Men 21. C.

[Dreamwoven]

Heh, yes, it may well turn out that way.

[Dreamwoven]

This is from the notes I still get from my subscription to the Society for Popular Astronomy (which is no longer active).

This report suggests there is surface ice on Mercury, if confirmed this would be astonishing.

MERCURY'S POLES ICIER THAN WAS THOUGHT
Brown University

The scorching-hot surface of Mercury may seem an unlikely place to
find ice, but research over the past 30 years has indicated that water
is frozen there, hidden away on crater floors that are permanently
shadowed from the Sun's blistering rays. Now, a new study suggests
that there could be much more ice on Mercury's surface than previously
thought. The study adds three new members to the list of craters
near Mercury's north pole that appear to harbour large surface ice
deposits. But in addition to those large deposits, the research also
shows evidence that smaller-scale deposits are scattered around
Mercury's north pole, both inside craters and in permanently shadowed
areas between craters. Those deposits may be small, but they could
add up to a lot of previously-unaccounted-for ice. The idea that
Mercury might have frozen water emerged in the 1990s, when Earth-based
radars detected highly reflective regions inside several craters near
Mercury's poles. The planet's axis does not have much tilt, so its
poles get little direct sunlight, and the floors of some craters get
no direct sunlight at all. Without an atmosphere to hold in any heat
from surrounding surfaces, temperatures in those eternal shadows have
been calculated to be plenty low enough for water ice to be stable.
That raised the possibility that the 'radar-bright' regions could be
ice. That idea got a boost after NASA's MESSENGER probe entered an
orbit around Mercury in 2011. The spacecraft detected neutron signals
from the planet's north pole that were consistent with water ice.