Philae on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Kudos!

(From European Space Agency, used w/o permission.)
(ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, as Philae lander touched down on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (November 12, 2014))

Those humans had good reason for being cheerful. They were at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany — and were getting 'I'm here' signals from their Philea lander.

Kudos, humanity: one of your robots landed on a comet. Granted — Philae bounced a few times, fetched up, maybe on its on its side, and definitely not where it should be — but it's working, sending back data, and may have enough power in its battery to last until tomorrow afternoon. Maybe longer.

It could have been a lot worse: and is pretty good for a first try.

"...The Key Issue Vexing Controllers..."

(From European Space Agency, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Some radio data suggests the probe may be about 1km from the intended landing site"
(BBC News))

"Rosetta: Battery will limit life of Philae comet lander"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (November 13, 2014)

"After a historic but awkward comet landing, the robot probe Philae is now stable and sending pictures - but there are concerns about its battery life.

"The lander bounced twice, initially about 1km back out into space, before settling in the shadow of a cliff, 1km from its intended target site.

"It may now be problematic to get enough sunlight to charge its battery systems....

"...Telemetry indicates it is on a slope or perhaps even on its side.

"Certainly, one of its three feet is not in contact with the surface.

"The key issue vexing controllers right now is the lighting conditions.

"Philae is receiving about 1.5 hours of illumination during every 12-hour rotation of the comet.

"This will be insufficient to top up its battery system once the primary charge it had on leaving Rosetta runs out. That was some 60-plus hours...."

The Lemming appreciates that phrase: "...the key issue vexing controllers...."

To "vex" is "to annoy, as with petty importunities."

Sure, Philae may not last as long as mission planners hoped: but it landed, is in one piece, and still on speaking terms with its orbiter. This is pretty much good news.

From what the Lemming's read, nine of 10 experiment packages Philae carries are in good shape: and scientists may even get a chance to use the lander's drill.

Besides, what is it you humans say? "Any landing you walk away from is a good one." Philae has "legs," but couldn't walk anyway: the point is that this robot landed.

Philae didn't crash. It's still got power, and mission planners have most of a day before the batteries run out. Maybe engineers will get the robot right-side-up and in full sunlight before then. Even if they don't, right now it looks like the Rosetta lander will get some serious science done before it's done.

Optimists, Pessimists, and the Lemming

Someone said that an optimist sees a glass that's half-full, a pessimist sees one that's half-empty, and an engineer sees one that's twice as big as it needs to be.

From the Lemming's viewpoint, some news about Philae's landing was written by pessimists who see the glass as half-empty and leaking. Not that BBC piece. Jonathan Amos did okay.

And of course there's the usual kvetching about how many resources were 'wasted' on the Rosetta mission, instead of being spent on the reporter's — or, more likely, editor's — pet peeve.

The Lemming thinks you humans deserve a Lemming's 'thumbs up' for a job well-done, on the Rosetta mission so far. There's more to life than landing on comets, of course: but you've got brains, and in this case you used them.

Slightly-related posts:

• "Robird: False Falcons, Ersatz Eagles, and a Rambling Lemming"
  (September 5, 2014)
• " 'Tampering With Things Man Was Not Supposed to Know:' the Angst Continues"
  (August 1, 2014)
• "The Alchemist Trap"
  (March 14, 2014)
• "Voyager 1: Outward Bound"
  (January 10, 2014)
• " 'Young' Martian Mudstone: Only 80,000,000 Years Old"
  (December 12, 2013)

From the Mind of the Lemming: Another Postcard

"...When humanity spread among the stars, we hoped to find vast, complex civilizations.

"They weren't there.

"So we built one...."
('Notes of a Traveler,' Otha Sisk)

Nice place, worth revisiting.

— the Lemming

Allegedly-related posts:

• "Kepler-186f: Facts, Speculation, and the Lemming"
  (April 25, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Postcard"
  (October 11, 2013)
• "The Lemming Takes a Vacation"
  (March 8, 2013)
• "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
  (November 30, 2012)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

Voyager 1: Outward Bound

(From NASA/JPL-Caltech, used w/o permission.)
"This artist's concept shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space. The two Voyager spacecraft are traveling farther and farther away from Earth, on a journey to interstellar space...."

Voyager 1 is outside the heliopause, outward bound. The robot spacecraft is still about one seventh as far from Earth's star as Sedna will be about 11,400 years from now. That'll be the year 13476, give or take: by which time humanity may have long since caught up with the Voyager probes, and that's almost another topic.

About 40,000 years from now, Voyager 1 will be 1.6 light years from AC +79 3888, and a tad farther from Sol, Earth's star. Gliese 445 is a shorter name for AC +79 3888, and whatever name you prefer: it'll be about 3.45 light-years from Sol when Voyager 1 goes past. You'll still need a telescope to see it, if you're on Earth at the time: which is unlikely, come to think of it.

The Lemming didn't find any planets listed for Gliese 445, but scientists are still sorting through data: and nowhere near finished with collecting more about Earth's neighbors. They'll probably be adding new planets to their catalogs for years. Decades. Centuries. Millennia. Longer.

Anyway, right now here are some pretty good places to check out if you're looking for nearby planets:

• The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia
  The exoplanet TEAM
• NASA Exoplanet Archive
  CalTech
• SIMBAD Astronomical Database
  Strasbourg University

"Nearby" on a cosmic scale, of course.

Here's what Gliese 445 looks like, as seen through a telescope on Earth. That colored ring isn't part of the star: someone drew it on the photo so you'd know which dot is yet another name for AC +79 3888. Actually, it's an abbreviation of Gliese, and the Lemming's mind is wandering.


(From Caltech/Palomar Observatory, via NASA, used w/o permission.)
"At the center of this image is the star AC +79 3888, also known as Gliese 445, located 17.6 light-years from Earth. NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, which is on a trajectory out of our solar system, is headed toward an encounter with AC +79 3888. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be closer to this star than our own sun.

"The image was taken by the Oschin Schmidt Telescope near San Diego, Calif., on April 22, 1998. This telescope is operated by the California Institute of Technology and Palomar Observatory."

It occurs to the Lemming that Voyager 1 may not make it to its flyby of Gliese 445. 40,000 years is a long time, humans are already working on a prototype warp drive, and that robot spaceship would make a dandy exhibit for some museum.

More:

• "Voyager: The Interstellar Mission"
  JPL/NASA
• "Gliese 445"
  Wikipedia
• "Heading toward Gliese 445"
  NASA Mission Pages, Voyager (September 12, 2013)
• "NASA Voyager Statement about Competing Models to Explain Recent Spacecraft Data"
  NASA Mission Pages, Voyager (August 15, 2013)
• "Voyager Solar System 'exit' debated"
  Jonathan Amos, BBC News (March 20, 2013)

Slightly-related posts:

• Peering into vastness
  • "Nearby Worlds, and a Cosmic Horizon"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 3, 2014)
    Particularly
    • Plato, Aristotle, and Getting a Grip
    • Across the Horizon, Toward Infinity
  • "Gliese 677C, Revisted: Three Super-Earths in the Habitable Zone"
    (June 28, 2013)
  • "DNA, Voyager 1, Habitable Worlds, and the Universe"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (March 22, 2013)
    Particularly
    • "We've Never Been There Before...."
  • "GJ 667Cc: Heavier than Earth, Maybe About as Warm"
    (February 6, 2012)
  • "Two Decades Later: Voyager 1 Flyby of Triton, August 21, 1989"
    (August 21, 2009)
• Getting there
  • "Warp Drive: Silly as Thinking People can Fly"
    (May 17, 2013)
  • "Warp Drive: Imagined and Real (Maybe, Eventually)"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (May 24, 2013)
  • "Quantum Entanglement and a Babbling Lemming"
    (May 3, 2013)
  • "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
    (November 30, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Travel to the Stars
    • Weird Physics, Warp Drive, News, and NASA
  • "Antimatter Rocket Motor: Physics, Straightforward; Engineering, Not So Much"
    (October 26, 2012)

"Young" Martian Mudstone: Only 80,000,000 Years Old

"Erosion by Scarp Retreat in Gale Crater "
(December 9, 2013)


(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, used w/o permission.)

"This mosaic of images from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a series of sedimentary deposits in the Glenelg area of Gale Crater, from a perspective in Yellowknife Bay looking toward west-northwest.

"Curiosity's science team has estimated that the 'Cumberland' rock that the rover drilled for a sample of the Sheepbed mudstone deposit (at lower left in this scene) has been exposed at the surface for only about 80 million years. The estimate is based on amounts of certain gases that accumulate in a rock when it is close enough to the surface to be bombarded by cosmic rays. An explanation for that unexpectedly young exposure age comes from improved understanding of how the layers are eroding to expose underlying layers. The explanation proposes that the mudstone is being exposed by abrasion by windblown sand, indicated by arrows. The role for wind is strongly suggested by the undercutting of the Sheepbed layer below the Gillespie Lake sandstone...."

Calling something that's about 80,000,000 years old "young" may seem odd. Compared to the 4,500,000,000 or so times that Earth went around our sun since the Solar system's inner planets settled down, though: it's very new indeed.

Quite a bit happened since the Sheepbed mudstone started soaking up cosmic rays. Something reset Earth's ecosystem, giving furry little critters a chance to assert themselves; and now Earth is either in the warm cycle of an ice age, or at the end of one.

Either way, the Lemming thinks the next 80,000,000 years should be interesting too..

Related posts:

• "Martian Supervolcanoes"
  (October 4, 2013)
• "Martian Hood Ornament? Water Faucet? Or Something Entirely Different?"
  (February 15, 2013)
• "Gale Crater, Mars: Like a Hawaiian Beach; Only Drier, Colder, - - -"
  (November 2, 2012)
• "Postcards From Mars"
  (August 31, 2012)
• "Curiosity: Landing Video; and Settling In"
  (August 24, 2012)

Putting a Face in Space: Yours, Not the Lemming's

"Asteroid mining company wants to put your face in space"
Irene Klotz, Reuters (May 30, 2013)

"A privately owned asteroid mining firm, backed in part by Google Inc's founders, launched a crowd-funding project on Wednesday to gauge public interest in a small space telescope that could serve as a backdrop for personal photographs, officials said.

"Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, plans to build and operate telescopes to hunt for asteroids orbiting near Earth and robotic spacecraft to mine them for precious metals, water and other materials.

"It also plans an educational and outreach program to let students, museums, armchair astronomers and virtual travelers share use of a telescope through an initiative on Kickstarter, a website used to raise funds for creative projects...."

This looks like a good idea. The 'your face here' idea reminds the Lemming of days gone by when folks paid for the privilege of sticking their heads through holes in a picture.

The point, as the Lemming recalls, was to have a photographer capture the moment. It was, in the Lemming's opinion, one of the sillier uses humans have found for their technology: but popularity of those boardwalk photos was very human.

The Lemming is more interested in plans for timesharing orbital property. Quite a few of the 7,000,000,000 or so folks living on Earth might want to use a modest space telescope without having the cash to build and maintain a satellite and ground support network. There's the little matter of getting something into orbit, too.

A few more decades, and humans might be raising families in low Earth orbit. But that's another topic.

Related posts:

• "Asteroid Miners"
  (January 25, 2013)
• "Asteroid Apophis: No 'Earth Shattering Kaboom' "
  (January 11, 2013)
• " 'One Small Hop for a Grasshopper...' SpaceX's Reusable Rocket"
  (December 28, 2012)
• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Mineral X From Outer Space!"
  (May 9, 2011)

Asteroid Miners

"New Asteroid-Mining Venture to Be Unveiled Tuesday"
Mike Wall, SPACE.com (January 21, 2013)

(Deep Space Industries, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
"This illustration depicts Deep Space Industries' Fuel Processor class spacecraft for asteroid mining...."

"A new asteroid-mining company will unveil itself to the world on Tuesday (Jan. 22) and is expected to present an ambitious plan to exploit the resources of deep space.

"The new private spaceflight company, called Deep Space Industries, Inc., will reveal its plans at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) Tuesday at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying in California. The new company is the second audacious project aimed at tapping the myriad riches that asteroids harbor.

"Deep Space seeks to launch 'the world's first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft,' according to a press advisory the company sent to reporters. 'Deep Space is pursuing an aggressive schedule and plans on prospecting, harvesting and processing asteroids for use in space and to benefit Earth.'..."

Well! It's about time!

Humans have been putzing around, picking up a few rocks here and there, scraping some sand there, and taking pictures just about everywhere in the Solar system. That's fine: the Lemming has nothing against tourism or science.

On the other hand, the fourth planet's surface is covered by iron oxide - maybe the biggest deposit of iron ore humans are likely to find in the next few centuries. Unless someone works out practical applications of Alcubierre's equations sooner, and that's almost another topic. (November 30, 2012)

Where was the Lemming? Humans, tourism, science. right.

Science, Tourism, and Meteoric Iron

Sending postcards from Mars, learning how rocks on Mars aren't quite like rocks on Earth, and counting Saturn's rings, is all well and good: but humans use metals like iron and nickel. There's a remarkable amount of iron ore near Earth's surface, and a fair amount of nickel, too.

Until very recently, though, the only useful iron humans had was what fell from the sky. Meteroric iron is very useful, but very rare. Eventually, humans figured out how to get iron out of that reddish soil that's so common in some spots. That was about two dozen centuries back, more or less.

About two dozen years back, humans made a few trips to the Moon, brought back some rocks, and haven't been back since.

That's where outfits like Deep Space Industries come in.

Some humans are really good at discovering things: rocks on the moon; new lasagna recipes; whatever. Others are really good at finding ways to make use of those nifty new things.

For example, Tsiolkovsky published some interesting math that showed how folks could travel to other planets. At the time, it was interesting but impractical. The math was okay, but ridiculous amounts of energy were needed. Other humans worked out the technology for making interplanetary spaceships.

Which brings us back to asteroid mining.

Asteroid Miners

Mining in the asteroid belt has been staple fare in science fiction/speculative fiction/whatever for decades. Larry Niven's Belters probably have more in common with gold rush miners than tomorrow's technicians and robots. So far, the Lemming's only noticed two companies gearing up for off-Earth mining:

• Deep Space Industries
  (spaceindustries.com)
• Planetary Resources
  (planetaryresources.com)

As word of real asteroid miners spreads, the Lemming figures that some folks will be upset. No surprises there. Some humans are good at dealing with new ideas. Others, not so much. And that's yet another topic. (A Catholic Citizen in America (January 25, 2013))

A bit more seriously, most national and international law got written when humans didn't do much apart from take photos and collect souvenirs on trips away from Earth. Mining operations are a whole different proposition. The Lemming figures that judicial wrangles will keep lawyers busy for years. Decades.

More:

• "Iron Meteorites"
  "The Hearts of Long-Vanished Asteroids"
  Geoffrey Notkin, Aerolite Meteorites, geology.com

Related posts:

• "A 'Threat to National Security,' a New Spaceplane, and Asteroid Mining "
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 25, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Asteroid Mining
• "Asteroid Apophis: No 'Earth Shattering Kaboom' "
  (January 11, 2013)
• "Vesta: Small World, Big Mountain"
  (October 3, 2011)
• "Mineral X From Outer Space!"
  (May 9, 2011)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

Yet more posts, the Lemming's view of:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "
  • Link list, routinely updated
• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries"
  • Link list, routinely updated

Postcards From Mars

"...This image is a portion of a larger image taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. See PIA16104. Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain...."

Next, a closer look at the center of that photo.

"...For scale, an annotated version of the figure highlights a dark rock that is approximately the same size as Curiosity. The pointy mound in the center of the image, looming above the rover-sized rock, is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet (100 meters) high."

Mount Sharp: Oddly-Tilted Layers

Scientists figured the terrain in Gale Crater would be interesting. They probably didn't expect anything quite this odd, though:


(from NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, used w/o permission)
"This image taken by the Mast Camera (MastCam) on NASA's Curiosity rover highlights the interesting geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed.... "
What's intriguing about this photo are the strata - more-or-less horizontal layers on the face of Mount Sharp. What's unusual about this set of layers is that the upper ones are tilted quite a bit more than the ones underneath. the dividing line between those two zones runs roughly across the middle of the photo.

Strata being at different angles isn't at all unusual here on Earth - it has to do with plate tectonics, according to a fellow in a NASA news conference. But around here, it's normal for the upper set of layers to be much more horizontal than the lower ones: the opposite of what's happened on Mars.

Voicemail From Mars

"First Recorded Voice from Mars"
Mission News, NASA (August 27, 2012)

"The following statement by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was returned to Earth via the Mars Curiosity rover.

"Hello. This is Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator, speaking to you via the broadcast capabilities of the Curiosity Rover, which is now on the surface of Mars.

"Since the beginning of time, humankind’s curiosity has led us to constantly seek new life…new possibilities just beyond the horizon. I want to congratulate the men and women of our NASA family as well as our commercial and government partners around the world, for taking us a step beyond to Mars...."



We've had the technology for sound transmissions from Mars for more than a decade. Still, Administrator Bloden's speech was a 'first.'

As of today, you can still see this video in "Interplanetary Voicemail," on NASA's website. In case NASA reorganizes their site before you see this post, here's a low-resolution version:


NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology (August 27, 2012)
video, 1:33 (file size: about 10.8 MB)

The server for the low-res. version is nowhere near as fast as NASA's, so the file may take quite a few minutes to load.

Sounds of Mars - Maybe Next Time

The Mars planning FAQ page says that Curiosity doesn't carry a microphone, so we won't be hearing 'live from Mars' broadcasts. This time.

A late-20th-century Mars expedition carried a microphone. Signals from Mars Polar Lander ended on December 3, 1999, on its way down to the Martian surface:

• Mars Polar Lander
  NASA
  • "What Sounds Will the Mars Microphone Record?"

Related posts:

• "Curiosity: Landing Video; and Settling In"
  (August 24, 2012)
• "A Tale of Two Mars Probes"
  (November 28, 2011)
• "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
  (May 26, 2011)
• "Viking Life Experiments: Another Look at Organic Stuff on Mars"
  (January 6, 2011)
• "New Look at the Lost Ocean of Barsoom"
  (June 15, 2010)

Curiosity: Landing Video; and Settling In

"NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing"
Mission News, Mars Science Laboratory (August 22, 2012)

"NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced today they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury.

"Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago.

"NASA has approved the Curiosity science team's choice to name the landing ground for the influential author, who was born 92 years ago today and died this year. The location where Curiosity touched down is now called Bradbury Landing.

" 'This was not a difficult choice for the science team,' said Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity. 'Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars.'..."


"This 360-degree panorama shows evidence of a successful first test drive for NASA's Curiosity rover. On Aug. 22, 2012, the rover made its first move, going forward about 15 feet (4.5 meters), rotating 120 degrees and then reversing about 8 feet (2.5 meters). Curiosity is about 20 feet (6 meters) from its landing site, now named Bradbury Landing. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech"

Taking a Look Around

Like many travelers, Curiosity is taking time to settle in before heading out to get a closer look at local attractions. In the case of this semi-autonomous robot, it's particularly important to check out equipment. Curiosity is a long way from home, and roadside service isn't available in Gale Crater. Not yet, anyway.

Here's a detail of that panoramic scene Curiosity sent back, showing spots where landing rockets marked the ground.



"...Curiosity will spend several more days of working beside Bradbury Landing, performing instrument checks and studying the surroundings, before embarking toward its first driving destination approximately 1,300 feet (400 meters) to the east-southeast.

" 'Curiosity is a much more complex vehicle than earlier Mars rovers. The testing and characterization activities during the initial weeks of the mission lay important groundwork for operating our precious national resource with appropriate care,' said Curiosity Project Manager Pete Theisinger of JPL. 'Sixteen days in, we are making excellent progress.'..."
("Mission News")

Video from Mars

This video is a bit choppy. Bear in mind, though: it was taken by a robot; and sent from Mars. Audio is what folks in mission control, back on Earth, were saying.

"Curiosity Lands on Mars"

NASA/JPL - Cal Tech (August 5, 2012)
via Brian Gill, YouTube (August 24, 2012)
video, 3:32
(Original video: "Dropping in on Mars in High-Res")

Related posts:

• Robots and Mars
  • "Roomba Review, and Dancing Robots"
    (August 17, 2012)
  • "Principles, Politics, Parkas, and a Robot on Mars"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 17, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Messages from Mars
  • "A Tale of Two Mars Probes"
    (November 28, 2011)
  • "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
    (May 26, 2011)
  • "New Look at the Lost Ocean of Barsoom"
    (June 15, 2010)
• Searching for life
  • "GJ 667Cc: Heavier than Earth, Maybe About as Warm"
    (February 6, 2012)
  • "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word "
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 29, 2012)
    Particularly
    • 1277 and All That
  • "Mexico's Crystal Cave and Astrobiologist Boston"
    (June 3, 2011)
  • "Viking Life Experiments: Another Look at Organic Stuff on Mars"
    (January 6, 2011)
  • "Astrobiology, the Vatican, and the Meaning of Our Existence"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (November 12, 2009)

More:

• Mars Science Laboratory
  • Mars Science Laboratory
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration press kit (July 2012) (5.4 MB)
    (from http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fact_sheets/mars-science-laboratory.pdf (August 8, 2012))
  • Mars Science Laboratory Launch
    NASA Press Kit (November 2011)
    (from http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/MSLLaunch.pdf (August 16, 2012))
  • Mars Science Laboratory Landing
    NASA facts (March 2012)
    (from http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/MSLLaunch.pdf (August 8, 2012))
  (List posted on A Catholic Citizen in America (August 17, 2012)

There's Nickle in Them There Asteroids

"Google and James Cameron to hunt for natural resources on asteroids"
The Wall Street Journal, via FoxNews.com (April 21, 2012)

"A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target.

"The venture, called Planetary Resources Inc., revealed little in a press release this week except to say that it would 'overlay two critical sectors—space exploration and natural resources—to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP' and 'help ensure humanity's prosperity.' The company is formally unveiling its plans at an event Tuesday in Seattle.

"While the announcement may cause some people to snicker at what could be a page out of a sci-fi novel or a Hollywood movie scene, Planetary Resources is making its debut just as scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other groups are embracing the notion of mining 'near-Earth asteroids' and providing blueprints for how such a feat would be accomplished.

"The possibility of extracting raw materials such as iron and nickel from asteroids has been discussed for decades, but the cost, scientific expertise and technical prowess of fulfilling such as feat have remained an obstacle. NASA experts have projected it could cost tens of billions of dollars and take well over a decade to land astronauts on an asteroid...."

Those snickers won't come from the Lemming. A NASA study, published in the mid-70s, outlined how building orbital power stations, mostly with material mined on the Moon, could start showing a profit in several years. Nobody got around to using that design study, but recently someone got the go-ahead to start building orbiting power stations. (December 2, 2009)

One reason the Lemming takes asteroid mining seriously is that robots turned out to be pretty good at getting jobs done more-or-less on their own. The Mars rover Spirit, for example, wound up in the Columbia Hills of Mars: almost five miles from its landing point. Along the way, Spirit collected and analyzed soil samples. (May 26, 2011)

What Spirit did was more like prospecting, than mining. But the Lemming doesn't see why a robot miner couldn't do pretty much the same thing, on a larger scale, and bring 'samples' back.

Maybe artificial intelligence isn't up to the task of finding some specific mineral, picking it out of an asteroid, storing it, and repeating that task until there's enough to justify hauling the stuff back to Earth. But even if humans have to tell the robots what to do, the Lemming's guess is that it'll be easier, less expensive, and safer, to send robots to an asteroid. Humans are pretty good at solving problems, and fairly good at moving rocks around: but humans also need big, heavy, complicated, life support systems. And they get bored easily.

No offense: but there's no point in sending a human, when a robot can get the job done. And do the job at lower cost. There's the 'safety' angle, too: from the human point of view. And that's another topic. Topics.

Related posts:

• "Vesta: Small World, Big Mountain"
  (October 3, 2011)
• "Asteroid Misses Earth, Good News; It's Not Unique, Not-So-Good News"
  (June 29, 2011)
• "Mineral X From Outer Space!"
  (May 9, 2011)
• "Asteroid Apophis: Probably Won't Hit Earth in 2036 or 2068"
  (March 10, 2011)
• "Dinosaurs, Three Major Asteroid Impacts, and Massive Volcanic Eruptions"
  (August 29, 2010)

A Tale of Two Mars Probes

"Next Stop Mars! Huge NASA Rover Launches Toward Red Planet"
Mike Wall, Space.com (November 26, 2011 )

"NASA has launched its next Mars rover, kicking off a long-awaited mission to investigate whether the Red Planet could ever have hosted microbial life.

"The car-size Curiosity rover blasted off atop its Atlas 5 rocket today (Nov. 26) at 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT), streaking into a cloudy sky above Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here. The huge robot's next stop is Mars, though the 354-million-mile (570-million-kilometer) journey will take 8 1/2 months...."

"...NASA began planning Curiosity's mission — which is officially known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) — back in 2003. The rover was originally scheduled to blast off in 2009, but it wasn't ready in time.

"Launch windows for Mars-bound spacecraft are based on favorable alignments between Earth and the Red Planet, and they open up just once every two years. So the MSL team had to wait until 2011...."

One thing about the Curiosity Mars rover: The thing is big. Curiosity's heat shield is bigger than the ones used on Apollo missions. (June 20, 2009)

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Space.com for a pretty good, mercifully brief, explanation of launch windows. Orbital mechanics, and performance limits of today's spaceships, explain why Russia's Phobos/Fobos-Grunt mission had a launch date so close to Curiosity's.

Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: a Little Good News

"Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe"
AFP (November 24, 2011)

"Russia on Thursday announced its scientists had for the first time made contact with its stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, a day after the European Space Agency said it had received a signal.

" 'A signal from the probe has been received and some telemetry data. At the moment our specialists are working on this information,' the Interfax news agency quoted Russian space agency spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov as saying.

"Interfax said the signal was received at a Russian station at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday afternoon.

"The European Space Agency said its ground station in Perth, Australia made contact with the probe at 2025 GMT on Tuesday, the first sign of life from Phobos-Grunt since it got stuck in Earth orbit after launch on November 9.

"Russian officials had cautioned earlier this week that the chances were very small of saving the mission, which would require reprogramming the probe to send it off on its trajectory to Mars before the window for its journey closes...."

That's better news than what the Lemming had been fearing, about Fobos-Grunt. It still looks like Russia's current Mars probe doesn't have all that much of a chance at getting to its destination. Which is definitely not good news for folks in the Russian space program.

Elsewhere, the Lemming ran into news about a Yankee imperialist warmonger plot to foil the noble Russian endeavor. At least, that's what some folks believe.

Here's a rather calm news item about that flashback from the Cold War:

Not Exactly Nostalgia

"­Did US 'climate weapon' knock-out Russian probe?"
RT (November 24, 2011)

"Russian space experts are struggling to decode fresh telemetry signals received from the stricken Phobos-Grunt probe. Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that America's ionosphere research site in Alaska caused the spacecraft's failure. ..."

"...Meanwhile, a retired Russian general believes that the glitch which prevented Phobos-Grunt from carrying out its space mission was caused by American radar sites in Alaska.

"General-Lieutenant Nikolay Rodionov, who used to command the country's ballistic missile early warning system, told Interfax that 'the powerful electromagnetic radiation of those sites may have affected the control system of the interplanetary probe.'

"The general was apparently referring to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) site located in Gakona, Alaska. The facility's stated purpose is the study of the ionosphere and its use for communication. But several popular conspiracy theories say it is developing a superweapon with potential to cause natural disasters on a global scale, including earthquakes, climate change and reversal of the magnetic poles...."

The Lemming remembers the 'good old days:' when folks upset by Yankee imperialists, commie plots, and conspiracies to fluoridate water, were a staple in the news. In some circles, that sort of thing never seems to get old - and that's another topic.

Seriously? Let's Look at Getting to Mars

Bottom line, one Mars probe seems to be off to a pretty good start. Another: not so much. The Lemming would like to see both get to Mars - particularly since Fobos-Grunt might have sent back a soil sample.

Well, maybe two years from now - - -

Related posts:

• "Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: Good News, Bad News, and Really Bad News"
  (November 14, 2011)
• "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
  (May 26, 2011)
• "Viking Life Experiments: Another Look at Organic Stuff on Mars"
  (January 6, 2011)
• "Water on Mars: The Lost Ocean of Barsoom?"
  (November 23, 2009)
• "Curiosity Heat Shield: NASA's Biggest to Date"
  (June 20, 2009)

---

Other posts, about

• "Mars, Mostly"

Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: Good News, Bad News, and Really Bad News

Updated 4:35 p.m. (November 14, 2011)

Mars Mission Most Likely a No-Go

"Russian Mars probe is likely lost, officials say"
Deutsche Welle (November 14, 2011)

"Russian officials have declared their country's Mars Phobos-Grunt probe, launched last Wednesday, as 'lost.' The mission was meant to head to a Martian moon, retrieve soil samples and then return to Earth by 2015.

" 'All attempts to obtain telemetric information from the Phobos-Grunt probe and activate its command system have failed,' quoted an unnamed Russian space sector source, as reported by the Interfax news agency. 'The probe must be considered lost.'..."

"...Popovkin brushed aside suggestions that if the probe indeed crashed to Earth, it would cause damage over a populated area.

" 'There are 7.5 metric tons of fuel in the aluminum tanks on board. We have no doubts that they will explode [and destroy the probe] upon re-entry,' Popovkin said. 'It is highly unlikely that its parts would reach Earth.'..."

That last bit, about bits and pieces of the Fobos-Grunt probe not reaching Earth's surface, strikes the Lemming as being a tad optimistic. Granted, we're almost certainly looking at a translation - and subtleties can get 'lost in translation' quite easily.

Still Trying: On a Deadline

"Russia Still Trying to Contact Stranded Mars Moon Probe"
Mike Wall, Space.com (November 14, 2011)

"Russian engineers are still trying to communicate with a wayward Mars moon probe, and they have until early December to fix the spacecraft and send it on its way, according to news reports...."

"Aborted Mars probe jeopardizes Russia's long-range space program"
Military commentator Konstantin Bogdanov, RIA Novosti (November 12, 2011)

"...Analysts are in no mood to exaggerate the situation with the spacecraft but note that its problems are more serious than an ordinary technical mishap. Russia's long range space program will now depend on Federal Space Agency efforts to reach the proper conclusions regarding the Phobos-Grunt incident...."

As the Lemming pointed out earlier, what's happening to Phobos/Fobos-Grunt is not good news for folks in Russia's space program.

---

First, the good news.

Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission, that should be spelled "Fobos-Grunt," to the Martian moon Phobos had a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and is in Earth orbit.

The massive robot spaceship carries China's Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter; a landing module that's designed to land of Phobos, scoop up a soil sample, and send the sample back to Earth; and The Planetary Society's LIFE experiment. More about that last, later.

Now, the bad news.

Something went wrong. Fobos-Grunt stopped communicating with Russia's ground control.

It's still holding its orientation, staying pointed in one direction, but Fobos-Grunt is in trouble. Its orbit only goes out about 345 kilometers (214 miles) from Earth's surface. The air up there is really thin, but it's not a perfect vacuum. Eventually it'll slow Fobos-Grunt down enough to drop more than a dozen tons of spaceship somewhere on Earth.

---

Russia's Phobos/Fobos-Grunt: It Could be Worse

"Stricken Mars probe stays silent"
Jonathan Amos, BBC (November 12, 2011)

"Efforts are continuing to try to regain control of the Russian Mars mission that is stuck circling the Earth.

"The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was put in orbit on Wednesday, but failed to fire the engine that was designed to take it on to the Red Planet.

"Engineers have been using tracking stations around the globe in an attempt to talk to the probe and diagnose its problems - but without success.

"Europe has offered Russia its assistance.

"The European Space Agency Spacecraft Operations Centre (Esoc) in Darmstadt, Germany, is now involved in trying to establish a link, using its antennas in French Guiana, the Canary Islands and on the Spanish mainland.

"The US space agency (Nasa) has also offered to do anything that might bring the wayward craft under full control...."

This is not good news for Fobos-Grunt, the Russian space program, or whoever gets fingered in the blame game that's almost sure to come. Still, as the Lemming said earlier, it could be worse. Back to the BBC:

"...Michael Murphy from Dayton, Ohio, posted on Friday: 'I just observed a pass of Phobos-Grunt and the Zenit second stage.

" 'The rocket body was tumbling slowly, and the probe itself appeared to be very steady as it passed.

" 'I did not get good timing information, but the probe was definitely steady. I saw no other objects along the track the probe followed,' he told the Phobos-Grunt thread on the SeeSat-L website...."
(BBC)

There is good news there. Michael Murphy spotted Fobos-Grunt, its rocket booster: but didn't see any debris nearby. Whatever went wrong, Russia's Mars ship is still pretty much in one piece.

Something with the tonnage of a largish truck waiting to fall back to Earth isn't good news. But, true to journalistic tradition, there's worse news:

---

Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine! Nitrogen Tetroxide!! Radioactive Cobalt-57!!!

To be fair, this Discovery op-ed didn't use exclamation marks, and did point out that:

• The chemicals with big names would "vaporize" long before impact
• There's only "a small quantity" of cobalt-57 involved

"Toxic Russian Mars Probe Heads Back to Earth"
Analysis by Ian O'Neill, Discovery News (November 11, 2011)

"It's hard to believe that only last week we were getting excited for Russia's first interplanetary mission in 15 years to launch. By now, we should be happy in the knowledge that the ambitious -- and awesome -- mission is powering through space, toward the Martian moon Phobos.

"The reality is that we are now discussing uncontrolled reentry scenarios.

"As if that wasn't enough bad news, we are looking at an uncontrolled toxic reentry scenario. Phobos-Grunt -- correctly written 'Fobos-Grunt,' meaning 'Phobos-Soil' or 'Phobos-Ground' -- is fully-laden with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide; that's ten tons of fuel and oxidizer. The probe itself weighs-in at only three tons...."

"...The majority of the fuel will likely vaporize during reentry, but everyone will be hoping for a splash-down in an ocean (which covers two-thirds of Earth, fortunately), as the wreckage will still be hazardous. There's also a small quantity of radioactive cobalt-57 in one of the science missions housed in the probe -- a fact that will most likely cause a media frenzy.

"It is for these reasons that the Russian media is dubbing Phobos-Grunt 'Most toxic falling satellite ever.'..."

While astronomers around the world are collecting data on the Fobos-Grunt orbit, and working out where it's likely to hit, Russia's higher-ups are doing their job. Sort of:

"...As we await the inevitable reentry of Phobos-Grunt, it would appear the Russian authorities are looking for someone to blame after a string of mission failures. According to a (translated) Interfax bulletin, an anonymous (expert) source indicated this may force reform in the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. Also, 'a number of positions of responsible persons' could face jail time...."
(Discovery News)

Meanwhile, back on Fobos-Grunt, there's a whole lot of hardware that probably won't get used. And some little critters sent by The Planetary Society:

---

Tardigrades to Mars

"...Not only was the mission designed to land and scoop-up some regolith (dust and rock) from Phobos' surface, returning it to Earth for analysis, it is also carrying a fascinating Planetary Society experiment called the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment, or 'LIFE.'

"LIFE is composed of many different types of bacteria to small organisms that seem to tolerate the space environment pretty well. Tardigrades -- known as water bears -- were also a part of the payload.

"What was the point of sending microscopic organisms to a Martian moon?

"In an effort to understand how life appeared on Earth, the experiment would have put the hypothesis of 'panspermia' to the test. Panspermia is a proposed mechanism by with life may 'hop' from one planetary body to the next -- meteorites slamming into Mars, say, ejecting many tons of debris into space. Should any organisms be 'hitching a ride' on the debris, could they (or at least their genetic information) survive the interplanetary journey, and atmospheric entry, to spawn life on another world?..."
(Discovery News)

Depending on who's involved, what's happening to the Phobos/Fobos-Grunt mission is an embarrassment, a disappointment, or a life-changing disaster.

It's not easy, getting a ship to Mars. Besides the rigors of a long trip through interplanetary space, and working with new technologies, there's good old-fashioned human error:

---

Mixing Yards and Meters: Oops

"Metric mishap caused loss of NASA orbiter"
CNN (September 30, 1999)

"NASA lost a 125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agencys [sic!] team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.

"The units mismatch prevented navigation information from transferring between the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft team in at Lockheed Martin in Denver and the flight team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Lockheed Martin helped build, develop and operate the spacecraft for NASA. Its engineers provided navigation commands for Climate Orbiters thrusters in English units although NASA has been using the metric system predominantly since at least 1990.

"No one is pointing fingers at Lockheed Martin, said Tom Gavin, the JPL administrator to whom all project managers report.

"This is an endtoend process problem, he said. A single error like this should not have caused the loss of Climate Orbiter. Something went wrong in our system processes in checks and balances that we have that should have caught this and fixed it.

"The finding came from an internal review panel at JPL that reported the cause to Gavin on Wednesday. The group included about 10 navigation specialists, many of whom recently retired from JPL...."

As HAL said, in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," "It can only be attributable to human error."

Or - MAYBE THE TARDIGRADES MUTINIED!!!

Not likely. Tardigrades are tiny critters, maybe a millimeter long, fascinating for researchers: but not smart.

The Lemming's posted about sounding crazy before. Recently:

• "Lemming Tracks: Oklahoma Earthquake, 'Unexplained Increase,' and Sounding Crazy"
  (November 7, 2011)
• "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
  (June 12, 2011)

Now, posts about falling spaceships, Mars, and all that:

• "Roentgen / ROSAT Hit Earth: Somewhere Around Southeast Asia"
  (October 24, 2011)
• "Here Comes Another Martian Conspiracy Theory"
  (June 7, 2011)
• "NanoSail-D: Maybe It's Working, Maybe Not"
  (December 12, 2010)
• "Mars Rover Spirit: Not Bad for a Limited-Warranty Robot"
  (May 26, 2011)
• "Life on Ceres? Could Be"
  (March 5, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Exploding Martians and the Viking Life Experiment

More:

• "Phobos-Grunt Mission"
  russianspaceweb.com
• "Missions to Mars"
  The Planetary Society
• "Tardigrade Facts"
  Illinois Wesleyan University

Bright Lights of Broadway: On Another Planet?

"Alien City Lights Could Signal E.T. Planets"
Charles Q. Choi, Astrobiology Magazine, via Space.com (November 4, 2011)

"Astronauts in orbit around the Earth often gaze down on a world lit at night by city lights. Now researchers suggest that scientists could detect alien civilizations from similarly bright lights.

"Science fiction has long imagined entire planets covered with cities. Examples include galactic capitols such as Coruscant from the 'Star Wars' films and Trantor from sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' books.

"Assuming that aliens need light to see at night much as we do, theoretical astrophysicist Abraham Loeb at Harvard University and astronomer Edwin Turner at Princeton University reasoned that extraterrestrial civilizations would switch on city lights during the hours of darkness on their world...."

This might be worth trying: and requires fewer assumptions than SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) techniques that won't work if folks out there aren't:

• Actively trying to contact us
• Use radio waves for communication
• Make the same choices we do, for
  • Frequency
  • Message encoding

The article does point out that the 'city lights' search wouldn't work if ET is nocturnal.

On the other hand, someone said that we may be looking too close to other stars for people:

"...Another possibility involves looking for alien cities far away from the habitable zones of the closest stars, in their equivalents of Kuiper Belts. They would reflect less starlight since they are farther out, so any artificial light we detected from them would be more discernible. In that case, we could detect them with existing satellites if the nighttime lights were as bright as Earth's, Loeb said...."

The Lemming thinks another drawback to a 'city lights' search is what may be an explanation for why we haven't picked up any verifiable radio signals yet. Here in America, and elsewhere, we're starting to try limiting how much energy we waste by lighting up the sky. Downward-facing lights and other energy-saving techniques might cut down the chances that we'd see the bright lights of Broadway - on another planet.

Still, this 'city lights' idea is a step in the right direction - in the Lemming's opinion. What would make the most sense, if folks are serious about finding people elsewhere in the universe, would probably involve looking for what a large civilization couldn't help but produce:

• Sources of heat that don't have an obviously natural source
• Emissions anywhere along the spectrum
  • With narrow frequencies
    • That don't correspond to what elements emit when they're heated

Essentially, we'd be 'listening' for the equivalent of equipment in a factory, rush-hour traffic, or a garage band practicing. Impossible? Not in the Lemming's opinion. Unlikely? That's the 64-dollar question.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "Gliese 581d: Rocky, Close (sort of), and Liquid Water (could be, maybe)"
  (May 18, 2011)
• "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
  (January 11, 2011)
• "Gliese 581g, Space Aliens, and the Canals of Mars"
  (October 12, 2010)
• "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  (September 24, 2010)
• "Earth May Not Be a 'Class M' Planet"
  (December 5, 2009)

Roentgen / ROSAT Hit Earth: Somewhere Around Southeast Asia

"Dead ROSAT Satellite Reenters Over South-East Asia"
Ian O'Neill, Discovery News (October 23, 2011)

"The German Aerospace Center and NASA have confirmed the defunct Roentgen Satellite, or ROSAT, has met its doom, most likely somewhere over SE Asia. German officials have said that the reentry occurred some time between 9:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. EDT on Saturday night.

"Fortunately, there are no reports of falling debris or damage, which means the surviving satellite bits -- around 30 pieces -- most likely crashed safely into the Bay of Bengal, somewhere between the the east coast of India and Indonesia. The location has yet to be confirmed, however.

"If it did come down in the Bay of Bengal, the satellite would have been approaching heavily populated cities in China before it started to tumble through the Earth's atmosphere, a fall that would have taken up to 15 minutes.

"Although the likelihood of the 2.4 ton X-ray satellite causing death and destruction was low (at 1-in-2,000), these odds were higher than last month's NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) crash. The likelihood of UARS hitting someone on Earth was set at 1-in-3,200, even though UARS was a larger piece of kit than ROSAT...."

What made ROSAT particularly dangerous was its mirror: almost three feet across, and weighing 880 pounds. Odds are pretty good that most of it came down in one piece. Even if the mirror broke up during reentry, and the largest piece was only half the size of the original: that'd still be 440 pounds of mirror. Definitely not the sort of thing anyone would want hitting the roof.

As of last night, it looks like nobody got hurt. That's good news.

The bad news is that ROSAT wasn't the only piece of space junk spinning around our planet. The Lemming's no Luddite, and thinks that communications satellites, GPS systems, and all the rest are useful. On the other hand, it's gotten crowded up there: and folks on Earth can't count on being lucky each time something comes in.

Maybe someone will work out a way to make money by salvaging out-of-service satellites. The Lemming's pretty sure that the more earnest folks Earthside would have fits over such capitalistic plots, and there'd have to be some sort of air traffic control (space traffic control?) for the salvage operations. But the Lemming also thinks a 'private sector' solution like that would probably cost less, and might work more effectively than some massive bureaucracy.

Think about it: if Earth goes the 'government' route, the United States, Japan, Russia, China, and India - at minimum - would insist on having full control of the program. The United Kingdom, France, Germany - you get the idea.

Yes, the Lemming thinks 'Ralph's Rockets and Orbital Salvage' would probably work better. Particularly since Ralph would have plenty of competition to keep up with.

And that's another topic.

Slightly-related posts:

• "Space Junk, Lasers, and Diplomacy"
  (March 21, 2011)
• "European Space Agency Inheriting Huge Satellite, and Trouble to Match"
  (July 27, 2010)
• "Over Four Dozen Space Agencies (and Growing?)"
  (February 28, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "Asteroid Threat: Good News, We Have the Technology; Bad News - "
  (April 28, 2009)

Vesta: Small World, Big Mountain

"Giant Asteroid Vesta Has Mountain Taller Than Anything on Earth"
Space.com (October 3, 2011)

"A NASA spacecraft orbiting the asteroid Vesta is revealing new details about the huge space rock's surface, including a massive mountain that rises taller than Mt. Everest on Earth.

"NASA's Dawn probe has been circling Vesta since mid-July, when it arrived in the asteroid belt that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. So far, Dawn has beamed back surprising views of Vesta that revealed an enormous mountain in the asteroid's southern hemisphere and show that its crater surface is incredibly diverse place.

" 'We are learning many amazing things about Vesta, which we call the smallest terrestrial planet,' Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission, said in a statement. 'Like Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, Vesta has ancient basaltic lava flows on the surface and a large iron core … The south polar mountain is larger than the big island of Hawaii, the largest mountain on Earth, as measured from the ocean floor. It is almost as high as the highest mountain in the solar system, the shield volcano Olympus Mons on Mars.'..."

The Space.com article has several NASA photos sent back by the Dawn probe: The Lemming thinks they're fascinating, but someone else might wonder what's the big deal with a grayish pockmarked lump of a mini-planet.

What's most intriguing for the Lemming is the possibility that Vesta's southern mountain isn't essentially the biggest lump on a lumpy pile of stuff. If Vest has - or had - some sort of geological process that pushed that mountain up, we'll have more data to drop into planetary geology models. Or whatever that topic's called. "Planetology" sounds awkward: and that's another topic.

Like Venus, Earth, and Mars, Vesta apparently has two major areas. The asteroid's northern hemisphere has more craters than the southern, and seems to be older. Volcanic activity, long ago? Evidence of a really big impact event on Vesta?

The Dawn probe's next stop is Ceres: ETA 2015.

Related posts:

• "Asteroid Misses Earth, Good News; It's Not Unique, Not-So-Good News"
  (June 29, 2011)
• "2008 LC18 - Neptune Trojan Asteroid Discovered"
  (August 13, 2010)
• "Proposed Commission for Planetary Defense: H.R. 5587 Makes Sense"
  (July 20, 2010)
• "Life on Ceres? Could Be"
  (March 5, 2009)
• "Triple Asteroid Found"
  (February 14, 2008)

Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars

"How the Space Shuttle Was Born"
Mike Wall, Space.com (June 28, 2011)


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The last-ever space shuttle launch — that of Atlantis, scheduled for July 8 — will come just over three decades after the first one, which took place April 12, 1981.

"But that's not to say NASA's iconic shuttle program just turned 30 years old. It's actually pushing 40, since President Richard Nixon officially announced its existence in January 1972. And the shuttle's roots go much deeper than that, stretching all the way back to a 1930s concept vehicle the Nazis hoped could drop bombs on New York City.

"The story of the shuttle's birth is one of big dreams and slashed budgets, of shifting visions, of NASA and the nation's attempt to find their way in space after beating the Soviets to the moon in 1969. Here is a synopsis of that long, involved tale. [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures]

"Roots: The Silbervogel

"In the late 1930s, the Nazis initiated the 'Amerika Bomber' project, an effort to build an aircraft capable of taking off from Germany and dropping a bomb on the continental United States.

"Various engineers, including a man named Eugen Sanger, submitted proposals. Sanger's idea, developed with the mathematician Irene Bredt, was a type of winged rocket called the Silbervogel (German for 'silver bird').

"The reusable Silbervogel would ascend to suborbital space, then drop down into the stratosphere. At that point, the increasing air density would give the vehicle lift, bouncing it to a higher altitude again. The process would repeat, with the Silbervogel making the trip across the Atlantic in a series of leaps and bounds...."

That sort of transatlantic roller coaster isn't likely to ever be used for passenger service - but it's got possibilities as a freight carrier. Provided there's a high demand for ultra-fast transcontinental package delivery.

The article traces the Space Shuttle's development, through the X-15 rocket plane that flew, the X-20 Dyna-Soar that didn't, the Apollo program that skipped over steps we're taking now, with the International Space Station (ISS).

Or, rather, that NASA and the American government would be taking, if the Beltway folks hadn't run up a mind-boggling debt. Which reminds the Lemming of college kids with credit cards and indulgent parents - and that's almost another topic. (May 16, 2011)

'When It's Time to Build Spaceships - - - '

Right now, if the American Congress decides that developing better ways to get people and cargo to Earth orbit: It'll make a difference.

Sort of.

If Congress also decides to stay out of the way of folks who run outfits like Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, SpaceX, and Blue Origin: America will probably be one of the countries with commercial properties in orbit - and beyond. Which will present a dilemma of sorts for Ivy League universities: They'll have to consider whether to have an expedition outfitter with a local office handle their science projects; or impress folks by outsourcing to France. Or maybe India. There seems to be a sort of prestige involved with going to another country - to get what's available down the street.

On the other hand, if Congress decides to 'protect' 'the Masses' from big, dangerous spaceship and the reckless people who build them - well, Japan has a quite active space program, so do India, China, and quite a few other nations.

Someone may even have the nerve to let private sector firms develop transport systems - that work reliably, safely, on-schedule, and on-budget.

The Lemming's been over this before:

• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

This is the Apathetic Lemming?!

In case you're wondering about the Lemming's name? Check out "About the Lemming."

What's Next?

You can buy tickets for suborbital flights right now - although Virgin Galactic hasn't brought its tourist service out of development yet. Other firms are concentrating on less glamorous freight and passenger service to the ISS. And rental properties like the ones Bigelow Aerospace is developing.

The Lemming doesn't expect anything with quite the 'wow factor' of the Apollo project. Not any time soon. International politics don't seem right for something like the 'Moon Race.'

Still - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA have been discussing starship design. (PCMag.com (October 30, 2010)) It's not exactly "Star Trek" stuff - physicists are still wrangling over warp drive theory (June 12, 2009) - but the Lemming thinks we're closer to having a working interstellar probe now, than we were to having people on the Moon in 1955. (December 12, 2010, May 9, 2010)

And, for all the Lemming knows, somebody may have worked the bugs out of Alcubierre's theory.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin and SpaceX are building flying gumdrops that promise to offer practical ferry service to and from orbit.

Related posts:

• "Atlantis: "Inspirational," the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "Endeavor's Last Flight, Orbital Hotels, and Spaceports"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "Last Trip for Space Shuttle Endeavour; and Reaching for the Stars"
  (May 16, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Atlantis: "Inspirational," the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)

The last Space Shuttle launch happened this morning.

"Minute by minute: Atlantis shuttle lifts off for final time"
CNN (July 8, 2011)

"Editor's Note: Atlantis' journey to the International Space Station will be NASA's 135th and final mission in the space shuttle program, which began 30 years ago. ..."

"...[Updated at 1:36 p.m.] Astronaut Julie Payette, a Canadian flight engineer who flew two shuttle missions told CNN: 'I feel good about it being a grand finale for an extraordinarily successful program.'

" 'This program has inspired so many people,' she said. 'It is very inspirational when we do things on the edge and this is one of the edges that's hard to reach.'..."

The Lemming feels pretty good about Atlantis reaching orbit, too. Space Shuttles have been making freight runs for decades now. These reusable spaceships got their job done - ferrying components, supplies, and crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

The Space Shuttle - an Infographic

"NASA's Space Shuttle – From Top to Bottom"
Karl Tate, Space.com (July 7, 2011)


(from Karl Tate, Space.com, used w/o permission)
Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

The original, at Space.com, is a little larger than this copy. The Lemming copied and resampled Karl Tate's infographic so that it would fit in this blog's format.

After Atlantis, What?

(from NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission) (reduced and cropped)

For whatever reason, NASA doesn't have a replacement for the Shuttle fleet ready. Maybe Congress decided that there were more important things to spend the Lemming's taxes on.¹

This is almost certainly not 'the end' for spaceflight. The ISS is still in orbit: and the American government is paying for the occasional ride up there, via Russian space services.

Meanwhile, outfits like Space-X and Blue Origin are developing Earth-to-low-orbit transportation systems. Vehicles like the Dragon and Goddard aren't quite ready for commercial service: but maybe that's just as well.

Construction hasn't been finished at some of the spaceports that will handle this century's outbound traffic.

And that's a topic for another post.

Related posts:

• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Spaceport America: More Progress"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Background:

• "How the Space Shuttle Was Born"
  Mike Wall, Space.com, via Foxnews.com (June 30, 2011)

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¹ "They do nothing, we pay them to spend our money." "CONGRESS!!"

Something like that exchange was in a television ad for a game, years ago. The Lemming acknowledges that the United States Congress is probably doing a better job of leadership than one might expect from an equal number of lava lamps.

America's federal debt is so high, that Congress is talking about discussing solutions. Some members are actually coming up with ideas that might work. That's a start. Minnesota's government closed down most services this month - and that's another topic.

As for the NASA budget? It's a significant fraction of the total Federal budget, in the sense that it's a measurable non-zero number. As for how much America spends - willingly or not - the Lemming's been over that before:

Who spends	How much
Federal Government	$3,720,700,000,000 (2010)
NASA's Discovery program	$425,000,000 (total)
Super Bowl advertisers	$205,200,000 (2010)

(May 10, 2011)

More about budgets and common sense:

• "Asteroid Misses Earth, Good News; It's Not Unique, Not-So-Good News"
  (June 29, 2011)
• "Ray Guns, Electric Cannons, and the Mind of the Lemming"
  (June 20, 2011)
• "Sailing the Seas of Titan, and Super Bowl Couch Potatoes"
  (May 10, 2011)
• "Why Your Boss Doesn't Understand the Information Age"
  Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind (August 9, 2010)

Here Comes Another Martian Conspiracy Theory

Move over, face on Mars, there's a new conspiracy theory coming - maybe.

"Armchair Astronomer Finds 'Evidence' of Life on Mars"
FoxNews.com (June 6, 2011)



"NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is investigating a California armchair astronomer's claim that a white, fuzzy image on the red planet's surface might be evidence of life.

"David Martines' YouTube video is heading for viral status after he uploaded a flyby of Google Earth's Mars explorer zooming in on a white, cylindrical object.

"The object, according to Martines, is 'about 700 feet long and 150 feet wide.' He's calling it 'Bio Station Alpha, because I'm just assuming that something lives in it or has lived in it.'

"His video was uploaded May 28, and has already been watched nearly 750,000 times.

"A spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab told FoxNews.com it was investigating the wild claims, speculating that 'Bio Station Alpha' would most likely be determined to be a glitch in the digital imaging or an unusual feature on the surface of the planet -- and not a Martian base....

"...But who's responsible? Martines says it's unlikely to be NASA.

" 'I don't know if they could pull off such a project without all the people seeing all the material going up there,' he said. 'I sort of doubt NASA has anything to do with this. I don't know if NASA even knows about this.'

"Google's imagery comes from many different locations, a company spokeswoman said, and glitches and errors can be introduced in many ways...."

The FoxNews.com article mentions the old "face on Mars" thing - which can be taken as proof they FoxNews.com is part of the conspiracy. The Lemming doesn't think there's a conspiracy to be part of - so the Lemming's in on it, too: using the same (logic? reasoning?).

NASA and the Amateur Astronomers

NASA is taking a look at the 'bio station' claim - which the Lemming thinks makes good sense. If the fuzzy white streak isn't an image processing glitch, something isn't the same color as the surrounding terrain.

The area that's getting attention is near one of the Martian poles - where carbon dioxide is part of the polar ice cap. The odds are pretty good that if there really is a feature on Mars where that image shows a streak, it's probably at least partly dry ice. In the Lemming's opinion.

Whatever that whitish mark is, the Lemming doesn't think it's something artificial on Mars. At least, that's among the much-less-likely explanations, in the Lemming's opinion.

This wouldn't be the first time folks were convinced they saw engineering projects on the red planet. By the way, one of the more likely explanations for the enduring canals of Mars is that they're the result of intelligent life - on our end of the telescope. (March 14, 2009)

The Lemming isn't cautious about assuming that the mark on Mars isn't artificial because an "armchair astronomer" noticed it. Amateur astronomers are just as serious as their paid counterparts - the difference is that they observe even when they're not getting grant money. That's a little unfair - but the Lemming thinks "armchair astronomer" may not be the best choice of words. The skyandtelescope.com magazine is a pretty good place to start looking at what astronomers, amateur and otherwise, are doing.

NASA has taken note of what amateurs noticed in the wealth of data sent back by probes before: like the Martian cave discovered by a seventh grade class. (June 22, 2010)

Space Aliens On Mars? That'd be Great, But - - -

The Lemming would love for "Bio Station Alpha" to really be something built by space aliens - or Martians. It's supposed to be at 71 49'19.73"N 29 33'06.53"W on Mars, by the way.

Assuming that it's space alien technology requires quite a few assumptions - including that there are space aliens to put it there. Other explanations require not quite so many assumptions, so the Lemming's not expecting this to be a "First Encounters" situation.

If the Lemming were writing a story, that bright streak wouldn't be any of the possibilities that Mr. Martines mentioned:

"...'It could be a powerstation or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage -- hope it's not a weapon.'

" 'Whoever put it up there had a purpose I'm sure. I couldn't imagine what the purpose was. I couldn't imagine why anybody would want to live on Mars.'..."

An (extremely unlikely) explanation is that it's a spaceship. One whose pilot almost managed to land safely on Mars. Recently. Within the last year or so. It was a hard landing, which explains why the fuselage is bent and even broken in a few places. Since there don't seem to be signs of activity around it, there probably weren't survivors. Although that short feature coming out from the fuselage, on the viewer's right, about a quarter of the way from the lower end, might be a deployed exit chute.

Does the Lemming think this is possible? Yes, barely.

Does the Lemming think it's likely that there's a crashed spaceship on Mars, that it's not one of ours, and that the pilot might have gotten a distress call out before going down? In the Lemming's considered opinion, that's a great deal less likely than the Lemming winning the lottery.

Still, it could make a dandy story.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Beware Warmonger Imperialist Space Aliens!?"
  (January 11, 2011)
• "Gliese 581g, Alien Angst, and the Lemming"
  (October 4, 2010)
• "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  (September 24, 2010)
• " 'All We Want is Peace and Quiet' - Another Look at the Mind of the Alien"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 9, 2009)
• "DNA - A Universal Pattern? Could Be"
  (April 8, 2009)

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Other posts, about

• "Mars, Mostly"

Related posts, at

• "A Serious Search for Other Worlds, Life, and - Maybe - Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"