Dave Reneke's

 'WORLD of SPACE and ASTRONOMY'

Weird, Wild & Breaking News Stories in Space and Astronomy from around the World 24/7 delivered free every week with regular updates as they happen.

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Here’s a selection of Astronomy/Space related stories you may find interesting. Be sure to sign up for your own copy of Astro Space News. I absolutely do not disclose your address to anyone! There is no cost and no obligation for this service. Anyone can subscribe by completing the opt in form just over there on the right … see it, do it now! We work 24/7/365 to report the most relevant ‘Astro-Space’ news back to you … virtually as it breaks. Bookmark this page and check back regularly.

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If you are interested, an interview with astronomer, writer, educator and public lecturer representing Australasian Science Magazine and Editor of Astro Space News, Dave Reneke(Astro-Dave) can be arranged by contacting Dave by Phone/Fax(02) 65 85 2260 Mobile: 0400 636 363 or email Dave for an instant reply to davereneke@gmail.com. David is well experienced talking to the media and presents information in an easy to understand, up to date and informative manner. Interviews can be on any subject, tailored to your requirements.

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 LETTERS TO DAVE

 Your letters are welcome on any subject covered by the scope of this newsletter or any aspect of astronomy/space in general. All letters requesting help or advice will be answered personally by me.

Dave

I am a big (very new) fan of your website and after reading over the astronomical news i found the artical on blue moons.  If Feburary is not going to have a full moon, isn't that the second time in recorded history that that has happened?  Just a curious question from a curious mind Max

Hi Max

Thanks for your email and interesting question.  Thanks too for the kind words about my site.  February is the only month in the year that cannot ever have a full moon because it has no more than 28 days, 29 leap in years.  The Moon is full every 29 and a half days, so it's possible to have two full moons in any month except February.  I'm not aware that it's happened before.  On average, there is only one Blue Moon every 33 months. However, I do stand to be corrected. Maybe my Victorian Astro Society critic can enighten me.

Dave

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Dave

Your website looks really good.  Being a blog writer myself, I really appreciate the time you took in writing this article.
Liam Hannafin

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I have been looking at your website on the Guan Sheng GS-580 6" limited 150mm x 1200mm Dobsonian telescope.  I am looking at purchasing this product please let me know how i go about it.  The price is $399.00 what is the delivery charge. I am looking to see the rings around Saturn and also the and other planets and a close up of the moon, would this telescope be suitable. I look forward to your reply

Regards Sandra

Hi Sandra

Good choice if it's for a beginner.  Let me know what age group it's for so I can guide you correctly.  With this scope you will have absolutely superb views of the Moon, very good views of nebulae and star clusters.  The planets will be clear but not huge in size OK due to this being a beginner type scope, You will see Saturn's rings clearly in the eyepiece ( they are just now starting to open up again) and you should see the bands around Jupiter, the 4 moons very clearly and you'll be able to catch a reasonable view of Mars.  In order to quote you secure posting and packaging I need to know your location.  This is a nice and very easy telescope to use.

Dave

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Hi Dave,

Happy 2010! Now for your first 'difficult question' of the year. Has there ever been a blue moon in February in a leap year? According to information I have read, it takes 29 and a half days for a new moon to appear. By today's time a blue moon can not appear in February in a leap year, but what about in the past?  (before we had calendars) As I understand it when the earth was being created/forming and even when it was complete, the Earth spun faster in its past and since then has been slowing down by a very small rate as it stands now. So, could it be that in earth's past, (shorter days) when the moon became our satellite, it was possible that the moon appeared twice in February-if we can make yearly calculations? Also, in the future, as the Earth slows its rotation-making the days eventually longer, could there be a blue moon in February in a leap year? All-in-all, a shorter Earth day in the past, and a longer Earth day in the future, may have given/will give the moon enough time to form a blue moon in February.

What do you think? Or is this all nonsense talk? 

Regards.Peter K.

Good question agan Pete. Look, as I've been travelling all last wek and haven't had a chance to get your question I've decded to oen it up to or readershiop and see what sort o an answer, or answers we can gt. How abut it flks? Want to give it try and put Peter out of his misery.? I know there are some pretty space savvy people who read is newsletter now. The best answers will get published next week. 

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Hi David,

The Guyra Argus is running your column, we have named it Stargazing with David Reneke

Thanks Wayne

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Hi Dave,

Yes I would be most interested to run your column once a month in our Fraser Coast Chronicle.  Covers the wide bay region of Queensland.  Will start in the next few weeks.

Cheers Peter     

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 THIS WEEK'S TOP STORY

   R.I.P.

Future of U.S. Space Flight Up in the Air

I just knew this was going to happen!! As NASA prepares for the next space shuttle launch February 7th, the reality that the program is coming to an end is really beginning to sink in.  And with word that the Obama administration is nixing funding to the Constellation program, there are a lot of questions about what, if anything, will fill the gap once the shuttle is gone.  

NASA has just spent more than half a decade telling Americans that we are all going back to the Moon – and why.  In the process, billions of dollars have been spent.  Children have grown up being told this again and again – just like my generation heard in the 1960s.  Now this is being taken away from them.  I can only imagine how my generation would have reacted.  It is one thing to alter a plan, change rockets, etc.  But it is quite another to abandon the plan altogether." 

Watch it – there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020.  The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its big brother, the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to take humans back to the moon.

There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases, no Constellation program at all. Thanks a bloody lot!!!!

In their place, according to White House insiders, agency officials, industry executives and congressional sources familiar with Obama's long- awaited plans for the space agency, NASA will look at developing a new "heavy-lift" rocket that one day will take humans and robots to explore beyond low Earth orbit.  But that day will be years — possibly even a decade or more — away.    

The administration says NASA will actually get more money in a budget plan, to be revealed, but critics say that increase will not be large enough to cover the costs of Constellation, the program that was supposed to get the U.S.  back to the moon. Even prior to this news, there was talk about a five year gap between the shuttle and Constellation programs.  Now without Constellation on the table, it’s unclear what NASA’s future would hold.  Some have suggested private companies step into human spaceflight, providing a sort of space taxi. 

There are companies interested in doing this.  In an interview with Fox News, former Apollo astronaut Walt Cunningham said of commercial attempts, “They have no idea what kind of problems they’re going to encounter.” Still, another astronaut, Leroy Chiao, who was on an Obama commission reviewing NASA, says something has to be done.  “If NASA’s budget is going to be more or less flat for the next few years, then we cannot sustain what’s been going on,” Chiao says.

The mood at Johnson Space Center is somber.  A lot of people are wondering what will happen to their jobs after the shuttle program ends, which is scheduled to wrap up by the end of this year.  Much of Clear Lake, the community that surrounds Johnson Space Center depends upon NASA employees to keep it thriving.  What happens to all of them remains to be seen.

Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin's statement c/o the Huntsville Times

This is a statement released Wednesday by Dr. Mike Griffin, former NASA administrator and now eminent scholar at the University of Alabama in Huntsville:

A few presidents have been very supportive of the U.S.  space program, and numerous others have been more or less neutral.  But only once previously has a U.S.  president recommended to the Congress that this nation take a backward step in space.  On that occasion, President Nixon canceled the Apollo program, a decision which in the long light of hindsight I believe will come to be regarded as one of the most significant, yet strategically bankrupt, decisions in human history.

But today, if the rumors we are hearing are true, then we are seeing a second occasion on which a U.S.  president has chosen to recommend that the nation abandon its leadership on the space frontier.  And, if such a thing is possible, this decision is even worse.

Today we have in orbit a $75 billion International Space Station, a product of the treasure and effort of 15 nations, and the president is recommending that we hold its future utility and, indeed, its very existence hostage to fortune, hostage to the hope that presently nonexistent commercial spaceflight capability can be brought into being in a timely way, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.

President Nixon's decision to cancel the Apollo program at least left us with the Space Shuttle.  President Obama's decision, if it is indeed to be as is rumored today, leaves NASA and the nation with no program, no plan, and no commitment to any human spaceflight program beyond that of today – the last few flights of the Space Shuttle to complete the International Space Station.

 Is There A Chance?

Yes, a slim one. On September 17, 2009, Congress inserted a clause in the language of the FY2010 NASA funding bill that would prevent President Obama from terminating the Constellation program without Congressional approval.  Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Senator Richard Shelby from Alabama — two states that have a huge stake in NASA's future — were the main sponsors of the clause in the Senate version.  So, it doesn't appear that Obama can just cut Constellation, not without a fight, anyway.

Also while we're on the subject of NASA's future, Administrator Charlie Bolden spoke in Israel yesterday, and journalist Avi Blizovsky from the online publication Hayadan shared with Universe Today some interesting comments Bolden made about NASA's direction.

Bolden apparently confirmed that an agreement had been reached between NASA and its international partners to continue operations of the International Space Station until 2020.  (Another Russian report said that NASA has suggested keeping the station operational until 2028).

Bolden said there will be dramatic changes to the human spaceflight program.  "We are going to have to adapt to change, and the President's decision is the beginning of the debate," Bolden said.  Without offering specific detail he added, "Based on what I know today is this is the best thing for the nation and for the family of space fairing nations."

He said the current budgetary situation does not allow NASA to go to the Moon, but he emphasized the importance of international partnerships returning to the Moon and going to Mars.  "Flying in space is expensive and risky and requires a broad set of capabilities that it is difficult for one nation to do it," he said.  "I think what President Obama wants me to do is work more closely with international partners."

But he also stressed how commercial space companies will extremely important to the future of space exploration

LiveShots & Universe Today   

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      MORE ASTRO-SPACE NEWS   

 This week Earth and Mars Are Having a Close Encounter.

 If you've been outside after it gets dark lately, you may have noticed the brilliant reddish star in the nth east.  But that's no star; it's Mars!  About every year and a half, the Earth passes Mars as they both orbit the Sun, very much like how a faster racing car on the inside track laps a slower-moving car on the outside track.

Mars was at opposition this week ,on January 30, and now is a good time to look at our sister world in a telescope. Last week the Red Planet was only 99 million kilometers away and looked bigger through a telescope than at any time between 2008 and 2014.

In the evening Mars can be seen from around 10pm AEDT low in the northeastern sky as the brightest (and clearly red) object in the sky.  .  Mars is a distinct nearly full disc in a small telescope, although somewhat small.  Larger telescopes will be needed to distinguish surface features.  Red Mars is in the constellation of Cancer and from January 31 is within a binocular field of the Beehive cluster.

When Earth does lap Mars, the Red Planet's on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise – we say that Mars is at opposition when that happens.  When it does, we get two advantages in one: it's at its closest point, so it's bigger in telescopes, and it's up all night so you can observe it at your convenience. This will be a good week to look at Mars.  Mars is looking more impressive than usual. All week it will very nearly match the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, which is off some distance to the right of the planet.

Roughly every two years the Earth laps its fellow planet, passing it up on the inside track of our smaller orbit. When this happens, Mars appears quite a bit brighter than usual, and also larger in a telescope. The orbit of Mars is noticeably oval rather than circular. Moreover, the Sun is not at the center of the orbit. Johannes Kepler taught us back in the 17th century that planets travel in orbits shaped like ellipses, not circles, and the Sun was at one focus of the ellipse, not at the centre.

As a result, how close we come to Mars depends on where the Red Planet is in its orbit. Back in 2003, it was very close to its perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun. We came within about 35 million miles that year, closer than we've been in more than 50,000 years. This time, however, we're nearly on the other side of the solar system. The space between our respective orbits is much greater. We won't get any closer than 61 million miles this time

  Daredevil To Leap From The Edge Of Space

Those suffering from vertigo need not apply.  A WORLD renowned BASE jumper is planning to freefall to earth from the edge of space. Daredevil Felix Baumgartner will drop a staggering 120,000 FEET in an attempt to break the speed of SOUND with his body.

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner hopes to travel 120,000ft up into the sky in a hot air balloon.  Then he will chuck himself out and hurtle towards the ground, reaching supersonic speeds after 35 seconds. His only protection will be a mask and a pressurised body suit.  If either of these rips, his blood will boil because of the pressure difference and the thin atmosphere.  His body would then begin to distintegrate as it plummets to earth.

Daredevil: Felix Baumgartner intends to plummet 125,000 ft from the edge of space back to earth As project director Art Thompson rather candidly puts it: 'All the gases in your body go out of suspension, so you literally turn into a giant fizzy [sweet], oozing fluid from your eyes and mouth, like something out of a horror film.'

No one has ever jumped from this height – an eye-popping 23 miles – so we don't know what will happen to Baumgartner's body.  But if anyone's prepared for such an epic feat, it's him.

 He said: "I want to push the limits of what is possible."Baumgartner will be dressed in a protective suit and flown to 120,000 feet in a pressurised capsule before making his jump. He believes he will be able to break the speed of sound — 768mph — within 35 seconds. In 1960, United States Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger made aerospace history by freefalling from 102,800 feet. This achievement set the groundwork for the United States' first space program.

Col Kittinger has been advising Baumgartner on safety and bringing his extensive experience to the programme. Over the past half-century, many have tried to surpass Col Joe Kittinger's feat but none have succeeded — and some have died in the attempt.

Baumgartner is known for his boundary-breaking projects, such as freefalling across the English Channel wearing a winged suit. He also set the world record for the highest parachute dive from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. BASE jumpers Nasr Al Niyadi and Omar Al Hegelan broke this record on January 8 when they leapt from the top of the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai — the world's tallest skyscraper.

Over the last two years Baumgartner has been preparing himself mentally and physically to attempt this new challenge. His mission will help researchers document the effects of high-speed travel on the human body, and further explore mankind's ability to travel at the edge of space. BASE jumping is considered a dangerous extreme sport.  BASE stands for the four categories of surfaces jumpers can leap from — Buildings, Antennae, Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs). Their jumps are broken at the last minute by small, tightly-packed parachutes.

 The Sun

 China To Launch Space Station in 2010 or 2011

China is planning to launch their own space station, named Tiangong, by the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011.  There have been a few instances where information about the station surfaces briefly over the past few years about the development of the space station. 

Specific details on the program are not being release in large doses by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), so the development of the station is somewhat shrouded in mystery. Qi Faren, one of the designers of the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft, said in an interview of the upcoming launch, "Quality is the key to technology.  We must guarantee a successful launch.  We will launch it whenever we are ready.  It will be the end of 2010, or the beginning of 2011."

Here's what is known about the program: the Tiangong – which means "Heavenly Palace" – station will start out much as the ISS and Mir did, with a small module to house taikonauts.  This component, named Tiangong-1, and shown above, is estimated to be an 8.5-ton module that will have life-support and solar energy production facilities.  It's a rather small module, with not much more room than the Shenzou spacecraft that will later carry taikonauts to the station.

The CNSA unveiled a model of the station during TV special celebrating the New Year in January 2009, but not much more has been said until the most recent statements regarding its potential launch dates.

Shenzhou-7 was the last manned Chinese spacecraft to launch, and it brought astronaut and former fighter pilot Zhai Zhigang into space for China's first spacewalk.  The next launch of a Shenzhou spacecraft, Shenzou-8, will be unmanned and is planned to dock with Tiangong-1, reminiscent of the ESA's Automatic Transfer Vehicle.  Of course, details about the date of this launch will be forthcoming pending the launch of the station itself.  This docking mission could last a few weeks to a few months, and will carry a payload of scientific experiments.

After that, Shenzhou-9 and -10 will likely carry taikonauts up to the station.  It isn't really clear whether Shenzhou-9 will be another unmanned docking mission, or will carry the first of the taikonauts to board the station.  The success of Shenzhou-8 will have a lot to do with whether the following launch will be manned or not.  Any of the missions to the station containing humans would be shorter than the unmanned docking missions for the logistical problems raised by bringing humans into space.

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, scientific and support modules will eventually be added to the station, named Tiangong II and Tiangong III. Further down the road, China plans to build a larger, more long-term space facility.  Zhang Jianqi, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of China's Manned Space Engineering Program, told the Xinhua News Agency last March, "…We will go all out to build a long-term manned space station by 2020." This fits in well with China's plans to take humans to the Moon after 2020, as it could provide a support platform for such a venture. As the launch of the newest addition to human outposts in space approaches, we'll hopefully get more information as to the details of Tiangong. 

Universe Today

  Search for Extraterrestrial Life Gains Momentum Around the World

The wide dishes, 20 feet across and raised high on their pedestals, creaked and groaned as the winds from an approaching snowstorm pushed into this highland valley.  Forty-two in all, the radio telescopes laid out in view of some of California's tallest mountains look otherworldly, and now their sounds conjured up visions of deep-space denizens as well. 

 The Allen Telescope Array will scan the skies for radio signals.  (Marc Kaufman/the Washington Post) 

The instruments, the initial phase of the planned 350-dish Allen Telescope Array, are designed to systematically scan the skies for radio signals sent by advanced civilizations from distant star systems and planets. 

Fifty years after it began — and 18 years since Congress voted to strip taxpayer money from the effort — the nation's search for extraterrestrial intelligence is alive and growing. "I think there's been a real sea change in how the public views life in the universe and the search for intelligent life," said Jill Tarter, a founder of the nonprofit SETI Institute and the person on whom Carl Sagan's book "Contact," and the movie that followed, were loosely based. "We're finding new extra-solar planets every week," she said.  "We now know microbes can live in extreme environments on Earth thought to be impossible for life not very long ago, and so many more things seem possible in terms of life beyond Earth."

The Hat Creek array, which began operation two years ago, is a joint project of the SETI Institute and the nearby radio astronomy laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley.  Made possible by an almost $25 million donation from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the array is unique and on the cutting edge of radio astronomy.  SETI and Berkeley share both the facility, 290 miles northeast of San Francisco, and all the data it collects.

The dishes also represent a coming-of-age for SETI Institute enthusiasts and its sometimes hailed, sometimes ridiculed mission.  While their effort was long associated with UFOs, over-excited researchers and little green men, it is now broadly embraced as important and rigorous science, and astronomers and astrobiologists in an increasing number of nations have become involved in parallel efforts. "This is legitimate science, and there's a great deal of public interest in it," said Alan Stern, a former assistant administrator at NASA who, in 2007, decided that proposals for extraterrestrial search programs should not be banned from the agency, as they had been since the early 1990s.  The National Science Foundation had come to a similar decision a few years before.

"It was not a big or difficult decision to change the policy," said Stern, who invited Tarter in to describe her program to NASA officials.  "The technology and science had advanced, and so it made no sense to block applications."  Limited search programs for intelligent extraterrestrials in the 1970s and 1980s abruptly lost their federal funding in 1992, after NASA proposed a greater effort.  Former Sen.  Richard Bryan led the charge in Congress, telling the Senate at one point: "The Great Martian Chase may finally come to an end.  As of today, millions have been spent and we have yet to bag a single little green fellow.  Not a single Martian has said, 'Take me to your leader,' and not a single flying saucer has applied for FAA approval."

The funding was eliminated, even though SETI listens for radio signals from distant planets and has nothing to do with Mars or with a supposed search for flying saucers or other space oddities. But when NASA informed Congress that it was going to allow SETI to once again compete for funds, there were no objections, Stern said.  Rita Colwell, who was director of the National Science Foundation when it approved a small-scale SETI Institute proposal in 2004, said several prominent astronomers endorsed the group, saying that the institute had become an important player in the field of radio astronomy.

Still, search activity by the institute and others is often criticized for its lack of results.  It has been 50 years since astronomer Frank Drake first used a radio antenna at the Green Bank National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia to listen for extraterrestrial signals, and so far no messages have been detected and confirmed.  UCLA physicist and astronomer Ben Zuckerman often lectures on what he considers the overly optimistic predictions of search advocates, and he argues that if the Milky Way were home to technologically advanced civilizations we would know it by now.  "I think very strong arguments can be brought to bear that the number of technological civilizations in the galaxy is one — us," he said.

 Space Rock Smashes Into Doctor's Office

This meteorite showed up, despite not having an appointment! A U.S. doctor now has another reason to look over his shoulder after a space rock came crashing through the ceiling of his office.

According to the Washington Post, the close encounter happened Monday afternoon in the Williamsburg Square Family Practice on Richmond Highway. "I was in my office doing charts," Ciampi told the Post.  "And I heard a loud boom, almost like a small explosion."

Ciampi scrambled into the hall, where he saw a mess of wood, plaster and insulation.  Among the debris lay a smooth rock the size of a tennis ball.  There was a hole in the ceiling where the space rock apparently made its entrance.

Lorton Meteorite WATCH Lorton Meteorite The Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History confirmed that it was indeed a meteorite, according to the Post. "The first thing we look at is what's called the fusion crust on the outside," planetary scientist Cari Corrigan told the paper.  "It's kind of a black, shiny coating, because when it passes through the atmosphere, it's melting a little at a time.  So it's like an outer layer of glass, of melted rock."

The Baltimore Sun reported that people from New Jersey to southern Virginia reported seeing a bright meteor fall, followed by a smoke trail.  The Baltimore Sun said its WeatherBlog received more than 100 reports of the fall. The meteorite weighs about half a pound, and it likely smashed into the roof at a whopping 220 mph, Corrigan told the Post.  And it turns out, space rocks hit earth "fairly often."

"We're bombarded by stuff like that all the time," Corrigan told the Post, but there's one key difference: Usually meteorites land in one of Earth's vast, uninhabited spaces. In doctor's offices?  Not so much. 

 NBC Universal

 Day The Earth Stood Still To Be Beamed Into Outer Space

Twentieth Century Fox makes history by transmitting the first motion picture in to deep space, making THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL the world’s first galactic motion picture release.  The first deliberate deep space transmission of this highly anticipated science fiction thriller began on December 12, 2008, to coincide with the film’s opening day on Planet Earth.  If any civilizations are currently orbiting Alpha Centauri, they will be able to receive and view the film in the year 2012.

In a time when global movie launches are now commonplace, Fox is raising the bar by spearheading, with Deep Space Communications Network located at Cape Canaveral, the ultimate in “wide release” platforms.  As millions of Earthbound movie fans get their first look at THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, the film will be zipping through space at 300,00 kilometred a second to a heretofore untapped possible consumer base orbiting the three star system, Alpha Centauri.

Industry watchers and film historians will note that due to the distance between our solar system and the Alpha Centauri system, it will take over eight years (accounting for a roundtrip communication) to receive any Alpha Centauri reviews.  The transmission is not a single beam aimed at just the Alpha Centauri system, but can be received by any advanced technologically capable civilization along the way to Alpha Centauri, and beyond.

Prior to its arrival at Alpha Centauri, the transmission of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL can be intercepted and viewed at various points in our own solar system (Distance from Earth – at the speed of light – and transmission time, as follows):

Moon: 0.000000038, 1.1991888 seconds Sun: 0.000016, 8.41536 minutes Mercury: 0.0000095, 4.99662 minutes Venus: 0.00000476, 2.5035696 minutes Mars: 0.0000076, 3.997296 minutes Jupiter: 0.0000666, 35.028936 minutes Saturn: 0.000135, 1.18341 hours Uranus: 0.000285, 2.49831 hours Neptune: 0.00046, 4.03236 hours Pluto: 0.0006183, 5.4200178 hours “We are thrilled about beaming this film into space.  This will be our first full length movie transmission.  And what could be more relevant to send into Deep Space than a movie about the Earth’s acceptance of visitors from outer space,” commented Jim Lewis, Managing Director, Deep Space Communications Network

About DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK: Deep Space Communications Network is a private organization located east of Orlando. DSCN was formed specifically to communicate with outerspace by a group of broadcast engineers and communications experts who regularly transmit from the space center.

The beam transmitting THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is by redundant high-powered klystron amplifiers connected by a traveling waveguide to a five meter parabolic dish antenna.

  RedOrbit

 India Plans Manned Space Mission

Indian researchers have announced plans to send their astronauts to space in 2016.
The cost of the proposed mission is estimated at $4.8 billion, said S.  Satish, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Studies have begun on the design of the crew capsules that will be used to put a pair of astronauts 300 kilometers aloft for seven days, he said.

The project budget has been sent for federal approval, he added.
A training facility for astronauts will also be built in southern India as part of the program, which Satish said would be solely Indian.
In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to explore space in what was a joint mission with the then Soviet Union.

In 2008, India launched its first unmanned mission — Chandrayaan-1 — to the moon that dropped a probe onto the lunar surface. In 312 days, Chandrayaan-1, meaning moon craft, completed more than 3,400 orbits and met most of its scientific objectives before vanishing off the radars abruptly last year, according to the space agency.

The craft carried payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria.  One of its aims was to search for evidence of water or ice and identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks. The Chandrayaan-1 mission came to be seen as the 21st century, Asian version of the space race between the United States and the USSR — but this time involving India and China.

Satish said the agency was also planning to send a second version of Chandrayaan in 2012. India held its first rocket launch from a fishing village in southern India in 1963. Now, the South Asian nation lists more than 60 events as "milestones" in its space program, which includes the successful use of polar and geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles.

Indian scientists say their country has the world's largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites. These satellites, according to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, capture images of the Earth used in a range of applications — agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources and disaster management. Another major system, or INSAT, is used for communication, television and meteorology. 

Mark Hachman

Astronaut Sends the First Live Tweet from Space

Credit Expedition 22 Flight Engineer T.J.  Creamer with the first Twitter tweet from space, which was made via the newly-configured Crew Support LAN aboard the International Space Station.

Creamer, via his @AstroTJ account, broadcast his tweet a few hours ago: "Hello Twitterverse!  We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space!  More soon, send your ?s"

Creamer has previously posted tweets, as had other astronauts.  But the tweets had to be emailed down to ground control, where they could be manually posted to the site.

The Crew Support LAN provides indirect access to the Internet via existing communications channels.  When the ISS is in contact with the ground via Ku-band communications, the astronauts have remote access to a ground computer, which can then access the Internet and relay the screen up to the ISS.

According to NASA, the astronauts will be subject to the same computer use guidelines as government employees on Earth.  "In addition to this new capability, the crew will continue to have official e-mail, Internet Protocol telephone and limited videoconferencing capabilities," NASA said. 

Telegraph UK  

 NASA Garage Sale Includes Shuttles, Engines, Space Suits

Looking for a good deal during the recession?  Space geeks don’t have to look any further than NASA, where they can pick up a retired space shuttle for the bargain-basement price of $28.8 million. That’s the cost NASA estimates for shipping and handling on a space shuttle.  The Space Shuttle Discovery has already been spoken for by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but Atlantis and Endeavour are still available.

Not just anybody can buy them, however.  NASA says because of the role the shuttles have played in the nation’s space program, “special attention is being given to ensure the shuttle orbiters are appropriately retired and displayed in the broadest interest of the American public.” That means Bill Gates or Sergei Brin probably can’t put one in the backyard.  The $28.8 million price tag is more than 30 percent off the original sticker price of $42 million NASA was asking in December of 2008.  The space agency says it dropped the price because much of the original cost included work that is needed to decommission the shuttles even if they were only to be stored in a hangar.

NASA says the new price reflects the cost of transporting the space vehicles to their new locations and fixing them up so they are in proper display condition.  More than 20 inquiries were received after the initial listing, but NASA expects others will step up now that the shuttles have been discounted.  Technically, Atlantis and Endeavour are not for sale.  They will remain property of NASA, but will be on permanent display at the new locations.  The deadline for organizations to apply to adopt a shuttle is February 19.

In addition to the orbiters, NASA is also offering up surplus main engines from the space shuttle.  And, it’s offering numerous other items are space-shuttle related (.pdf) to museums and educational institutions, including such items as flight-crew clothing and instruments that have been to space, as well as wind-tunnel models, mockups and simulators that never left the ground. The fire sale extends beyond the shuttle program to include 2,500 items from the space program that are newly available, including space suits from Apollo and Mercury and other artifacts like an adorable model of a Gemini spacecraft.

Wired

  Solar Flares Can Now Be Predicted More Accurately

We all like to know in advance what the weather is going to be like, and space weather is no different.  However, predicting solar storms from the sun — which can disrupt satellites and even ground-based technologies — has been difficult.  But now scientists say magnetic loops breaking inside the sun provide two to three-day warnings of solar flares. 

“For the first time, we can tell two to three days in advance when and where a solar flare will occur and how large it will be,” said Alysha Reinard, from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.

Reinard and her team found that sound waves recorded from more than 1,000 sunspot regions reveal disruptions in the sun's interior magnetic loops that predict a solar flare.  They found the same pattern in region after region: magnetic twisting that tightened to the breaking point, burst into a large flare, and vanished.  They established that the pattern could be used as a reliable tool for predicting a solar flare.

“These recurring motions of the magnetic field, playing out unseen beneath the solar surface, are the clue we’ve needed to know that a large flare is coming—and when,” said Reinard. 

Twisting magnetic fields beneath the surface of the sun erupt into a large solar flare, as shown above.  Credit: NOAA The new technique is already twice as accurate as current methods, according to the authors, and that number is expected to improve as they refine their work over the next few years.  With this technique, reliable watches and warnings should be possible before the next solar sunspot maximum, predicted to occur in 2013.

“Two or three days lead time can make the difference between safeguarding the advanced technologies we depend on every day for our livelihood and security, and the catastrophic loss of these capabilities and trillions of dollars in disrupted commerce,” said Thomas Bogdan, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.  

Sunday, January 31, 2010 – What a busy date in astronomy history!

In 1958 the United States.  launched its first satellite – Explorer 1 – which discovered the bands of radiation now referred to as the Van Allen Belts .  In 1961 the Mercury-Redstone 2 launched, carrying Ham the chimpanzee to fame. 

Cabin pressure failed during the suborbital flight, but inside his pressure suit, Ham remained safe and performed his tasks with a reaction time only a half second slower than on the ground, proving primates could function in space!  Ham lived for another 17 years, and the celebrated chimp gave many performances – even guest starring in movies! 

Luna 9 was launched in 1962 and 72 hours after its launch became the first craft to successfully touch down on the Moon and broadcast television from Oceanus Procellarum .  Even Apollo 14 was Luna-bound today in 1971.

 Tammy Plotner – Universe Today

Popular Australian Astronomer Honored For Service to Astronomy

Fred Watson… excuse me, Professor Fredrick Garnett Watson AM, was on 'Australia Day' 2010 appointed a ‘Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia’ – which is generally acronymized down to just AM.  This honor was bestowed for ‘service to astronomy, particularly the promotion and popularization of space science through public outreach’.

Watson is a well known Australian identity after 10 years on ABC radio – answering many phone-in questions from the public, samples of which are captured in his popular book Why is Uranus Upside Down?  Another book Stargazer – the Life and Times of the Telescope has also sold well internationally. Watson has appeared in a number of science television programs and is also a regular public speaker at forums such as Science in the Pub.  In 2006, he won the Aust. Government Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science.

Since 1995, Watson has been the Astronomer in Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Coonabarabran, NSW.  The AAO operates the Anglo-Australian Telescope and UK Schmidt telescopes on behalf of the astronomical communities of Australia and the United Kingdom.  Currently the Observatory is funded by the Australian and British Governments to provide world-class facilities for British and Australian optical astronomers.

Born in England in 1944, Watson is considered a pioneer in the use of fibre optics in astronomy and spectroscopy – the subject of his PhD thesis gained at the University of Edinburgh in 1987.  Watson apparently helped pay for his studies playing in folk bands alongside performers such as Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly – and apparently he used to have hair back then.

He has also combined a love of music and performance to communicate a passion for astronomy.  As well as releasing his own CD An Alien Like You, he won an APRA award in 2008, for the Choral Work of the Year, being Star Chant, the choral fourth symphony of Australian composer Ross Edwards, for which Watson wrote the text. Watson is currently participating in the international RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) measuring the radial velocities and metallicities of up to  1 million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.  It is anticipated that RAVE will deliver a better understanding of the dynamics of the Milky Way, including determination of local escape velocity at different locations across our spiral galaxy. And just to round off a not-too-shabby CV, he also has an asteroid named after him, Fred Watson 5691.  Congratulations Fred.

  Steve Nerlich

       

  UFO papers to be made public
The Press Hundreds of pages of secret files on New Zealand UFO sightings will be released by the military this year. …

 Astonishing UFO video from China comes to light
The UFO footage below has recently come to light. It is believed to have been filmed in one of China's wilderness regions in the last year. …

 UFO Lecture Held at Idaho State University in Pocatello
It was a lecture on unidentified flying objects or UFOs. Robert Hastings says for the last 30 years the Freedom of Information Act has helped declassify …

 UFO filmed landing in Belgium
Allegedly a couple were driving on the highway near the town of Kloosterzand, Zeeland, on the way to Antwerp when they say a huge, white spherical UFO …

 Death of UFO expert unsolved
21 (UPI) — Authorities say the 2009 death of a UFO expert off the coast of Portsmouth, England, remains a mystery. Police said despite an inquest, …

Clear daytime UFO photo taken by South Korean student
The above photo of a UFO comes from the city of Seoul in South Korea. Allegedly, on 28 December 2009 an elementary school student was on the balcony of his …

Incredible UFO allegedly filmed above Montevideo, Uruguay
A reader has sent in the following UFO footage allegedly taken recently in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. We know little about the footage beyond …

Mexico: Airbus A-320 Flies Near UFO
According to unofficial data, and under excellent meteorological conditions, the UFO was detected visually as it flew at an approximate altitude of 10000 … 

           

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    FEATURE STORY

 "Was the Universe Created By A Big Bang?" -Several of the World's Leading Cosmologists Say "No"

"What banged?" Several of the worlds leading astrophysicists believe there was no Big Bang that brought the universe and time into existence.  Before the Big Bang, the standard theory assumes, there was no space, just nothing.  Einstein merged the universe into a single entity: not space, not time, but spacetime.

Proponents of branes propose that we are trapped in a thin membrane of space-time embedded in a much larger cosmos from which neither light nor energy -except gravity- can escape or enter and that that "dark matter" is just the rest of the universe that we can't see because light can't escape from or enter into our membrane from the great bulk of the universe. 

And our membrane may be only one of many, all of which may warp, connect, and collide with one another in as many as 10 dimensions -a new frontier physicists call the "brane world." Stephen Hawking, among others, envisions brane worlds perculating up out of the void, giving rise to whole new universes.

One of the most important space probes of the century is the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) launched in 2001 to measure the temperature differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiatiion -the 14-billion year old Big Bang's remnant radiant heat .  The anisotropies then in turn are used to measure the universe's geometry, content, and evolution; and, perhaps most importantly, to test the Big Bang model, and the cosmic inflation theory.  WMAP data seem to support a universe that is dominated by dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant.

Perhaps not surprisingly, there is no supportative data to date for Big Bang theory, although the results aren't sensitive enough to rule out the pervasive Big Bang/inflation model. The influence of gravitaional waves on polarization is different from that of overall energy distribution, so it should be possible to tell from polarization in the WMAP scans whether the variation is coming from contrasting energy density (heat) or gravitational waves that a Big Bang should have produced.

The world's leading astrophysicists are confidemt that with a sensitive enough probe such as that by the new Planck telescope with its more detailed CMB plots, that they can reduce the level of uncertainty low enough so that they can say definitively whether the gravitational waves that should have been created by the Big Bang as present.

If this next generation Planck Telescope shows that there is no onvious distortions caused by gravity waves, it will rule out the Big Bang plus inflation theory -an add-on theory that explains the phenomenal sudden expansion of space from a tiny point.  In it's place will be new models that support what many leading cosmologists see as our universe to be proved to be one of just many in an eternal cycle of birth and rebirth.

Models of the universe that involve a bouncing brane or a Big Crunch rather than a start from scratch Big Bang predict much smaller gravity waves being produced than would come from a Big Bang.  If the universe actually went through cycles of expansion and contraction, it is possible that the uneven distributions in the early post-Big Bang universe that resulted in the formation of galaxies were leftovers from the universe before.

Only gravity can't exist soley in a specific brane, but wanders where it will, leaking off our brane into what physicists call "the bulk" — the rest of space-time.  Brane theory offer an fascinating and plausable explanation for why gravity is such a weakling: Maybe it's not any weaker than the other forces, but just concentrated somewhere else in the bulk, or on another brane, providing the key to understanding the dark matter that makes up 90 % of our universe.

If our brane is but a small slice of a much larger cosmos, however, the "dark matter" might be nothing but ordinary matter trapped on another brane.  Dark matter is no longer some mysterious unknown, but the force at the heart of the brane-brane interaction.  With the brane model the universe goes through an eternal cosmic cycle over a vast timescale of attraction, bounce with a spread out bang, springing apart, and expansion until attraction (gravity) takes over again.Such a shadow world, Hawking speculated, might contain "shadow human beings wondering about the mass that seems to be missing from their world."

Are branes the key to understanding the origin of our universe?  "Who knows?" says Sean Carroll.  "they will have taught us a useful lesson that we should have known all along, which is that we don't have a clue to what's going on."  Alan Guth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, creator of the currently accepted model of the Big Bang, said recently "he felt a little like Rip Van Winkle — picking up his head from a long sleep only to notice that the landscape of physics he thought he knew had suddenly, drastically, changed." 

Daily Galaxy

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IN THE SKY THIS MONTH

February 2010

Well, already well into 2010 and the night sky is starting to get really interesting.  So much so you won't even need a telescope to see some of the celestial goodies… your eyes, and maybe a pair of binoculars, will do just fine!

There's a new Moon on February 14 (Valentine's Day) and that's a great time to not only propose, but look for planets as well.  It's also Chinese New Year!  The Moon's glare can sometimes block them out.  Mercury is just starting to make an appearance low above the Eastern horizon during morning twilight.  Look for a small yellowish star-like object.
Mars appears as a bright orange 'star' in the early north-eastern evening sky.  With a reasonably powerful telescope you can see the orange disc, surface markings and possibly the polar caps.

Ever heard of the giant planet?  That's Jupiter, 1300 times bigger than the Earth.  In fact, all the planets in the solar system could fit inside this huge world, still with plenty of room left over to park your car!  You can spot Jupiter setting low in the West and even with a good pair of binoculars it's stunning – the disc is clearly visible with four of its moons spinning around the outside.

The lord of the rings is next.  Saturn is visible earlier in the evening above the Eastern horizon as a pale yellow star.  It's the one planet with the 'Wow' factor but keep in mind the rings are turned mostly side on at the moment, so don't expect a lot OK?

Two welcome signposts for the Australian evening summer sky are the familiar constellations of Orion, (or 'saucepan') and the Southern Cross. Look at the middle star in the handle of Orion with your scope.  It's not a star, it's a beautiful gas cloud called a nebula where stars are being born.  The reddish star below it is one of the few stars in the sky that you can actually recognize its colour.  Betelgeuse is truly a giant, almost
600 times wider than our own Sun.

If you remember holding sparklers as a kid on cracker night you'll love the Alpha-Centaurids.  They're a meteor shower happening best on February 8 with long lasting streaky tails and possibly a rare fireball or two!  What time to watch did you say?  Sorry, it's an early morning treat.  Get up sometime between midnight and dawn and just look eastward.  Nope, you won't need anything, just your eyes will do.    

 Dave Reneke   

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   ASTRO PIC OF THE WEEK 

 

 This striking new image shows the vast cloud of gas and dust known as the Cat’s Paw Nebula or NGC 6334.  This glowing nebula resembles a gigantic pawprint of a celestial cat out on an errand across the Universe.  This complex region of gas and dust, where numerous massive stars are born, lies near the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, about 5500 light-years away.  It covers an area on the sky slightly larger than the full Moon.  The whole gas cloud is about 50 light-years across.

This new portrait of the Cat's Paw was created from images taken with the Wide Field Imager instrument at the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, combining images taken through blue, green and red filters, as well as a special filter designed to let through the light of glowing hydrogen.

The nebula appears red because its blue and green light are scattered and absorbed more efficiently by material between the nebula and Earth. The red light comes predominantly from hydrogen gas glowing under the intense glare of hot young stars. Particularly striking is the red, intricate bubble in the lower right part of the image.  This is most likely either a star expelling large amount of matter at high speed as it nears the end of its life or the remnant of a star that already has exploded.

NGC 6334 is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and has been extensively studied by astronomers.  The nebula conceals freshly minted brilliant blue stars — each nearly ten times the mass of our Sun and born in the last few million years.  The region is also home to many baby stars that are buried deep in the dust, making them difficult to study.  In total, the Cat’s Paw Nebula could contain several tens of thousands of stars. 

 Universe Today

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Did You Know?

The Birth of Our Solar System (and Life as We Know It)
When the Sun was born, the radioactivity pervading the material around it may have helped to create conditions for life in the rocks that formed the planets. Understanding the origin of this radioactivity could tell us how likely it is that life could exist elsewhere in the Universe. 

Black Holes: The Missing Link
Evidence for the existence of small and very large black holes is quite convincing, and now there is strong evidence for one in the “medium” range.

The Myopia Epidemic
The prevalence of myopia is increasing in children and adolescents, but pharmaceutical intervention is on the horizon. 

Humpback Love Songs
New insights into the context of when humpback whales sing and with whom suggest that a function of the song could be as a courtship display to females. 

Food Security in a Changing World
Increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 will change the nutritional value of food for both people and livestock – and even lead to higher levels of toxic cyanide in some staple foods and pastures.

A Sticky Lunar Problem
A dusty problem for the Apollo astronauts has taken on new significance with US plans to return to the Moon by 2020.

Switches for the Gene Machine
We share the same number of genes as simple roundworms. Newly discovered systems of gene control explain why.

Quantum Memory
New models of human cognition inspired by quantum theory could underpin information technologies that are better aligned with howwe recall information.

The Light Fantastic
By controlling how individual wavelengths of light diffract, researchers are harnessing the power of white light lasers that open up the visible spectrum in optical chips.

Message from a Refugee
One of the least recognised issues faced by refugees is access to technologies enabling them to keep in touch with their families.

Left for Dead
The discovery that a man who had been in a coma for 23 years was still conscious has raised questions over the treatment of people who are in a permanent vegetative state.

Curbing Population Growth Limits Global Warming
Few can have any doubt that halting population growth in developed and developing countries is the greatest challenge now facing our world.

  Please cite AUSTRALASIAN SCIENCE MAGAZINE as the source of these stories    

 

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