What Are The Trojan Asteroids?

 

SciTechDaily: We Asked a NASA Scientist: What Are the Trojan Asteroids? 

What are the Trojan asteroids? 

These mysterious space rocks have been gravitationally trapped in Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun for billions of years and hold clues to the formation of our solar system. NASA’s Lucy mission will be the first spacecraft to study these ancient relics up close. Lucy scientist Audrey Martin at Northern Arizona University has the details.  

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CSN Editor: So, what are the Trojan asteroids? They’re asteroids that orbit with Jupiter around the Sun that ultimately hold the clues to the formation of our solar system.

William Shatner Describes His Short Trip To Space 'It's Indescribable'"

 

Kotte.org: Captain Kirk Goes to Space: “It’s Indescribable” 

 Last week, William Shatner finally got a chance to boldly go where he hadn’t actually been before: into space. And upon returning from the 11-minute flight, the 90-year-old TV spaceship captain had come down with more than a touch of the Overview Effect. 

From the transcript of his post-flight remarks:  

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CSN Editor: William Shatner's description of his space flight after landing is below: 

Nasa Delays SpaceX Launch To ISS Over A ‘Medical Issue’ With An Astronaut

The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station for NASA pose for a photo on the gantry to their Crew Dragon Endurance during a launch rehearsal. They are (from left): ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron. (Image credit: SpaceX)  

Space.com: SpaceX's Crew-3 astronaut launch for NASA delayed by 'minor medical issue'  

Crew-3 will now launch no earlier than Saturday (Nov. 6). 

SpaceX's next astronaut launch for NASA has been delayed until at least Saturday (Nov. 6) by a "minor medical issue" affecting a crewmember, agency officials said. 

The mission, known as Crew-3, had been scheduled to lift off early Wednesday morning (Nov. 3) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. 

The earliest it could now launch is 11:36 p.m. EDT on Saturday evening (Nov. 6; 0336 GMT on Nov. 7). 

"The issue is not a medical emergency and not related to COVID-19," NASA officials said in an update today (Nov. 1). 

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Update #1: SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to space station delayed by "minor medical issue" (CBS)  

Update #2: Nasa delays SpaceX launch to ISS over ‘medical issue’ with astronaut (The Guardian)  

CSN Editor: NASA and SpaceX are not elaborating on the nature of the problem or say which astronaut was involved.

Astronauts Heading Back To Earth From The International Space Station This Month Will Be Without A Bathroom

The toilet aboard SpaceX's Inspiration4 craft malfunctioned during the crew's three-day journey around the Earth last month, causing urine to leak inside the capsuleNASA's Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency  

Daily Mail: This stinks! SpaceX capsule's leaky toilet is going to leave astronauts without a bathroom and force them to wear 'undergarments' on their return trip from the International Space Station this month 

* Engineers first noticed trouble with the toilet design when the all-civilian Resilience capsule returned in September 

* Urine had pooled beneath the floor panels after a tube from the toilet came unplugged 

* SpaceX engineers fixed the issue in the Resilience but the Endeavour capsule is stationed on the ISS and unable to be repaired 

* Astronauts commonly use the undergarments to relieve themselves in spacesuits for launches, landings and spacewalks 

Astronauts heading back to Earth from the International Space Station this month will be without a bathroom, thanks to an issue with the toilets on SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. 

Instead, NASA's Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency, and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will have to rely on 'undergarments' for waste management while aboard the Endeavour capsule, Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, told reporters at an October 29 press conference.

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Update #1: SpaceX's Dragon space toilet is off limits for astronauts returning to Earth soon (Space.com)  

Update #2: Leaky SpaceX toilet problem will force astronauts to use backup 'undergarments' (CNN)  

CSN Editor: Thank God for diapers/undergarments.

These Small Rockets Are Designed To Launch Small Satellites

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is smaller than most, built to carry tiny CubeSats. Rocket Lab

Wired: The Little Rocket That Could Sends Real Satellites to Space

The launch company Rocket Lab has amusing names for its missions. The first, in May, was called “It’s a Test” (it was). When the staff debated what to call the second launch of their diminutive Electron rocket, so sized (and priced) specifically to carry small satellites to space, they said, “Well, we’re still testing, aren’t we?”

They were. And so “Still Testing” became the name of Rocket Lab’s second launch, which took place on January 20, at around 8:45 pm Eastern Standard Time. In December, the company canceled multiple attempts before rescheduling the launch window for 2018. The livestreamed rocket lifted off from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, headed for someplace with an even better view.

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CSN Editor: They want the small payload-satellite niche. More signs on how the commercialization of space continues.

Syria To Set Up A Space Agency

The Syrian government has set up a space agency. Seriously. It is called the Syrian Space Agency. http://t.co/qEOKaBhzRf
— Liz Sly (@LizSly) March 18, 2014

Syria Has Set Up A Space Agency -- Washington Post

The Syrian news agency announced Tuesday that the cabinet approved a bill creating the Syrian Space Agency, "a public body of a scientific research nature." From our Beirut bureau chief:

Countries don't have to have the money and resources of the United States or Russia to mount a space program. India launched an unmanned orbiter to Mars in November for just $74 million, for example. Nigeria has a national space agency. So does Ukraine. And Syria didn't say what its space program is doing. But the announcement comes just days after the third anniversary of a conflict that has killed more than 140,000 and created 2.5 million refugees.

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Update #1: Syria creates 'space agency' despite war -- AFP
Update #2: Syria Creates 'Space Agency' as War Rages On -- NBC/Reuters

My Comment: This makes no sense at all.

India - Pakistan Border Is So Brightly Lit It Can Be Seen From Space

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
Spectacular: The International Space Station image captures the floodlit border between India, above the orange line, and Pakistan, below the border in the picture

Whose Bright Idea Was That? Border Between India And Pakistan Is So Brightly Lit It Can Be Seen From Space -- Daily Mail

Snaking for hundreds of miles across the earth's surface, this spectacular picture shows one of the planet's land borders like never before.

The dramatic picture shows a bright orange line jutting across the earth, indicating the border between India and Pakistan.

The stunning image of the earth, taken from the International Space Station last month, also shows busy cities show up as bright clusters hundreds of miles apart.

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My Comment: It must be working .... cross border raids from Pakistan into India have dropped appreciably in the past few years, all be it that the peace can be broken at any time.

Surprise: Solar System "Force Field" Shrinks Fast

Shown in a Hubble Space Telescope image, the "astrosphere" around the star L.L. Orionis approximates the heliosphere around our solar system. Image courtesy ESA/NASA

From The National Geographic:

NASA craft reveals unexpected unpredictability of our protective bubble.

It's cold, dusty, and bereft of planets, but the outskirts of our solar system are anything but dull, according to increasing evidence from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) craft.

As charged particles flow out from the sun, they eventually bump up against interstellar medium—the relatively empty areas between stars. These interactions "inflate" a protective bubble that shields Earth and the entire solar system from potentially harmful cosmic rays (solar system pictures).

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Air Force's Space-Based Surveillance Satellite Launches Tomorrow, To Scan For Space Junk

Space Debris NASA

From Popular Science:

A massive collection of spacecraft parts, dead satellites, and spent rocket stages circle high above the Earth in a sort of “floating landfill.” According to recent estimates, about 4 million pounds of space junk currently orbit the Earth, including some 20,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters.

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Astronaut’s Eye View: Time-Lapse Videos of Earth

From Wired Science:

A NASA astronaut on the Space Shuttle Endeavor brought space back down to Earth. Astronaut Don Pettit took over 85 time-lapsed videos of Earth from his stint on the International Space Station to highlight features of the changing planet.

"There is phenomenology that happens on a timescale that you can't see in real time," he said. "It occurred to me that making time-lapse movies on the space station would bring out things that you normally don't observe."

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New Infographic Visualizes The Space Debris Cloud Surrounding Earth

Space Debris Circles Michael Paukner (See it bigger)

From Popular Science:

My debris field is bigger than yours.

Space debris remains one of the biggest challenges for a space-faring humanity in the 21st century, as even the smallest pieces can pose a serious threat to satellites, manned spacecraft and the International Space Station. Now our friends at Fast Company have stumbled on a nifty infographic by Austrian designer Michael Paukner that lays out the space clutter situation more clearly.

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Top 10 Space Stories Of 2009

Could our three dimensions be the ultimate cosmic illusion? A German detector is picking up a hint that we are all mere projections (Image: Wolfgang Filser/Max Planck Society)

From New Scientist:

The most popular space stories of the year include an exploration of the havoc a solar storm could wreak on Earth and a visualisation of what it would look like to fall into a black hole. Click here to see our readers' favourite space stories of 2009.

Read more reviews of the year:

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Eight Spin-Offs From Space

Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: Sending people and high-tech robots into space is not cheap and NASA gets through vast sums of money. This financial year alone the U.S. space agency requested more than A$20 billion in funding. How do they justify the expense? One way is to highlight the many technologies developed for the space program, but which now benefit society.

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Small Asteroid to Fly Past Earth Tonight

From Live Science:

A small asteroid will buzz the Earth late Friday EDT (early Saturday GMT), flying just inside the orbit of the moon. It should pass safely by our home planet, according to a crack team of NASA space rock trackers.

The space rock, named 2009 TM8, was just discovered Thursday by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. It will get within 216,000 miles (348,000 km) of Earth when it zooms by at a speed of about 18,163 mph (29,232 kph).

"That's slightly closer than the orbit of our moon," NASA's Asteroid Watch team said Friday via Twitter.

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Far-Out Photo: Sunrise in Space

This sunrise was photographed with a handheld camera by astronauts during space shuttle mission STS-127 on July 17, 2009. Credit: NASA

From Live Science:

Astronauts orbiting Earth see a lot more sunrises and sunsets that those of us stranded on the surface. They circle the planet every 90 minutes, and the sun just keeps coming.

A new picture of a sunrise from space was taken with a handheld camera by astronauts Friday on the day the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station during shuttle mission STS-127.

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2010: A New Space Odyssey Beckons

From The Independent:

The world is on the verge of new manned exploration of the solar system – and, this time, environmentalists are backing it.

This weekend, 40 years after man first landed on the Moon, more human beings than ever before are orbiting on a single spacecraft. In 1969, three men squeezed into Apollo 11's command module, a craft little bigger than a Mini.

Yesterday, the International Space Station, now as large as a four-storey house, yet speeding at 17,239mph, took on board the crew of the shuttle Endeavour: 12 men, one woman – seven Americans, two Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese and a Belgian. During a two-man space-walk, the crew added a four-ton porch – an outdoor shelf for experiments – to the station.

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What’s In Earth Orbit And How Do We Know?

Tracking all the active satellites and orbital debris around the Earth is a challenging task, even for the US Defense Department. (credit: NASA)

From Space Review:

Whenever the topic of space debris and satellites in orbit comes up a lot of numbers tend to get thrown around by a lot of different people, and it can be hard to keep all the figures straight. Compounding this is the superficial knowledge (at best) of the subject by many media commentators and the tradition of secrecy by the US military, the organization that has historically been the main keepers of the data on space debris.

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Buzz Aldrin: Why We Should Leave The Moon Alone And Settle Mars Instead

Photo: Buzz Aldrin is pictured standing on the moon,
which Neil Armstrong can be seen reflected in his visor.

From The Daily Mail:

Nasa astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, has urged the world to forget about returning to our nearest satellite and head to Mars instead.

'Why do we want to go to go back to the Moon?' he asked.

'Some nations want to go for prestige to say they are 'first' in space exploration in the 21st century and they want Nasa to compete with them.

'But there's no reason for us to go back. We can look at the effects of long-term missions in space by flying around comets, rather than setting up a base on the Moon. We're not going to launch any missions from there.'

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Solar Storms Ahead: Is Earth Prepared?

In this artist’s conception, a coronal mass ejection from the sun is mapped in 3-D by NASA’s pair of STEREO sun-observing satellites. (NASA)

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Sunspot cycle beginning in 2012 may put satellites, power grids at risk.

When we look at the sun (carefully), it appears to be a uniform, unchanging star. But scientists and engineers have a much different perspective. To them, the sun is a dynamic, chaotic, and poorly understood caldron of thermonuclear forces, one that can spit out fierce bursts of radiation at any time.

And when Earth lies in the path of that blast, the flare can play havoc with power grids, disrupt radio communications, and disturb or disable satellites. Fifty years into the Space Age, Earth has avoided the worst the sun can deliver – so far.

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Twin Spacecraft To Explore Gravitational 'Parking Lots' That May Hold Secret Of Moon's Origin

Artist's concept of the STEREO spacecraft. (Credit: NASA)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2009) — Two places on opposite sides of Earth may hold the secret to how the moon was born. NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are about to enter these zones, known as the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, each centered about 93 million miles away along Earth's orbit.

As rare as free parking in New York City, L4 and L5 are among the special points in our solar system around which spacecraft and other objects can loiter. They are where the gravitational pull of a nearby planet or the sun balances the forces from the object's orbital motion. Such points closer to Earth are sometimes used as spaceship "parking lots", like the L1 point a million miles away in the direction of the sun. They are officially called Libration points or Lagrangian points after Joseph-Louis Lagrange, an Italian-French mathematician who helped discover them.

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