Space news and Exploration II

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Deployment! LightSail Boom Motor Whirrs to Life

LightSail's tiny solar sail deployment motor sprung to life Sunday afternoon, marking an important milestone for The Planetary Society’s nail-biting test mission. Sail deployment began at 3:47 p.m. EDT (19:47 UTC) off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, as the spacecraft traveled northwest to southeast.
Telemetry received on the ground showed motor counts climbing to the halfway point before LightSail traveled out of range. Power levels were consistent with ground-based deployment tests, and the spacecraft’s cameras were on. "All indications are that the solar sail deployment was proceeding nominally," wrote mission manager David Spencer in an email update.

 

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A lower-mass WASP-18 b's analogue, (apparently) in multiple system too.

WASP-121 b: a hot Jupiter in a polar orbit and close to tidal disruption

We present the discovery by the WASP-South survey, in close collaboration with the Euler and TRAPPIST telescopes, of WASP-121 b, a new remarkable short-period transiting hot Jupiter, whose planetary nature has been statistically validated by the PASTIS software. The planet has a mass of 1.183+0.064−0.062 MJup, a radius of 1.865 ± 0.044 RJup, and transits every 1.2749255+0.0000020−0.0000025 days an active F6-type main-sequence star (V=10.4, 1.353+0.080−0.079 M⊙, 1.458 ± 0.030 R⊙, Teff = 6460 ± 140 K). A notable property of WASP-121 b is that its orbital semi-major axis is only ∼1.15 times larger than its Roche limit, which suggests that the planet might be close to tidal disruption. Furthermore, its large size and extreme irradiation (∼7.1109 erg s−1cm−2) make it an excellent target for atmospheric studies via secondary eclipse observations. Using the TRAPPIST telescope, we indeed detect its emission in the z′-band at better than ∼4σ, the measured occultation depth being 603 ± 130 ppm. Finally, from a measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect with the CORALIE spectrograph, we infer a sky-projected spin-orbit angle of 257.8+5.3−5.5 deg. This result indicates a significant misalignment between the spin axis of the host star and the orbital plane of the planet, the planet being in a nearly polar orbit. Such a high misalignment suggests a migration of the planet involving strong dynamical events with a third body.

 

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NASA's "flying saucer" completes second test
By Anthony Wood
June 9, 2015
2 Pictures

NASA has put a new supersonic parachute design through its paces in the second test of its flying saucer-like Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD). The technology is being developed for future exploration of Mars, where it would allow NASA and its partners to land heavier payloads on the surface.

 

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Spacecraft built from graphene could run on nothing but sunlight

GRAPHENE to the stars. The material with amazing properties has just had another added to the list. It seems these sheets of carbon one atom thick can turn light into action, maybe forming the basis of a fuel-free spacecraft.
Graphene was discovered accidentally by researchers playing with pencils and sticky tape. Its flat structure is very strong and conducts electricity and heat extremely well. Yongsheng Chen of Nankai University in Tianjin, China, and his colleagues have been investigating whether larger arrangements of carbon can retain some of these properties. Earlier this year they published details of a "graphene sponge", a squidgy material made by fusing crumpled sheets of graphene oxide.
While cutting graphene sponge with a laser, they noticed the light propelled the material forwards. That was odd, because while lasers have been used toshove single molecules around

, the sponge was a few centimetres across so should be too large to move.

 

[ScienceRocks]

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-hubble-telescope-detects-sunscreen-layer-on-distant-planet

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has detected a stratosphere, one of the primary layers of Earth’s atmosphere, on a massive and blazing-hot exoplanet known as WASP-33b.
The presence of a stratosphere can provide clues about the composition of a planet and how it formed. This atmospheric layer includes molecules that absorb ultraviolet and visible light, acting as a kind of “sunscreen” for the planet it surrounds. Until now, scientists were uncertain whether these molecules would be found in the atmospheres of large, extremely hot planets in other star systems.
These findings will appear in the June 12 issue of the Astrophysical Journal

 

[ScienceRocks]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/pr...4,5,6,15,17,34


"This test was highly visible and provided volumes of important information, which serves as tangible proof that our team is making significant progress toward launching crews on American rockets from America soon," said Jon Cowart, partner manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "The reams of data collected provide designers with a real benchmark of how accurate their analyses and models are at predicting reality. As great as our modern computational methods are, they still can't beat a flight test, like this, for finding out what is going on with the hardware."

The successful test of SpaceX's Crew Dragon launch escape capabilities demonstrated the spacecraft's ability to save astronauts in the unlikely event of a life-threatening situation on the launch pad.

"This is the first major flight test for a vehicle that will bring astronauts to space for the entire Commercial Crew Program," said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX. "The successful test validated key predictions as it relates to the transport of astronauts to the space station. With NASA's support, SpaceX continues to make excellent and rapid progress in making the Crew Dragon spacecraft the safest and most reliable vehicle ever flown."

 

[ScienceRocks]

HAT-P-55b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Sun-like Star

We report the discovery of a new transiting extrasolar planet, HAT-P-55b. The planet orbits a V = 13.207 +/- 0.039 sun-like star with a mass of 1.013 +/- 0.037 solar masses, a radius of 1.011 +/- 0.036 solar radii and a metallicity of -0.03 +/- 0.08. The planet itself is a typical hot Jupiter with a period of 3.5852467 +/- 0.0000064 days, a mass of 0.582 +/- 0.056 Jupiter masses and a radius of 1.182 +/- 0.055 Jupiter radii. This discovery adds to the increasing sample of transiting planets with measured bulk densities, which is needed to put constraints on models of planetary structure and formation theories.

New entry: HAT-P-56 b.

An inflated massive Hot Jupiter transiting a bright F star followed up with K2.0 observations

We report the discovery of HAT-P-56b by the HATNet survey, an inflated hot Jupiter transiting a bright F type star in Field 0 of NASA's K2 mission. We combine ground-based discovery and follow-up light curves with high precision photometry from K2, as well as ground-based radial velocities from TRES on the FLWO~1.5m telescope to determine the physical properties of this system. HAT-P-56b has a mass of Mp≈2.18MJ, radius of Rp≈1.47RJ, and transits its host star on a near-grazing orbit with a period of P≈ 2.7908 d. The radius of HAT-P-56b is among the largest known for a planet with Mp>2MJ. The host star has a V-band magnitude of 10.9, mass of 1.30 M⊙, and radius of 1.43 R⊙. The periodogram of the K2 light curve suggests the star is a γ Dor variable. HAT-P-56b is an example of a ground-based discovery of a transiting planet, where space-based observations greatly improve the confidence in the confirmation of its planetary nature, and also improve the accuracy of the planetary parameters.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Lava Lake on Jupiter Moon Io Triggers 'Hotspots' Seen from Earth
by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | June 11, 2015 12:12pm ET
Lava Lake on Jupiter Moon Io Triggers Hotspots Seen from Earth

New images of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io show "hotspots" happening in different areas of a volcanic lake. Even more surprising given the lake's small size: the images were taken from Earth.

The pictures of the lake, called Loki Patera, suggest the thermal activity may happen as lava on top of the lake crusts over and falls into the liquid below, triggering emissions visible from Earth in ground telescopes. Astronomers even managed to create a video of Jupiter's moon Europa casting a shadow on the lava lake based on their observations.

Astronomers have detected emissions from the Io's lava lake, which is 124 miles wide (200 kilometers) lake from our planet, but only as a single glow. Researchers got a better look with the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona. The telescope has two 8.4-meter mirrors gazing at the sky, 6 meters (20 feet) apart from each other.

 

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Japan announces plans to send probe to Martian moon
Japan's space agency JAXA has announced its intention to send a spacecraft to one of Mar's moons, collect a sample from its surface and then return to Earth to allow for analyzing the sample. If successful,

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NASA prepares for first interplanetary CubeSats on agency's next mission to Mars
When NASA launches its next mission on the journey to Mars – a stationary lander in 2016 – the flight will include two CubeSats. This will be the first time CubeSats have flown in deep space.

 

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'Hello Earth!': Comet probe Philae wakes up
The European space probe Philae woke up overnight after nearly seven months in hibernation as it hurtled towards the Sun on the back of a comet, mission control said Sunday.

 

[mamooth]

"Goresat" reaches final station.

NOAA s Satellite and Information Service NESDIS

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has reached its final position at the L1 Lagrange point between earth and sun, about one million miles from earth. From that vantage point, its sensors pointed at the sun will give earth an early warning of approaching solar storms. And a camera pointed back at earth will give constant measurements of earth's total reflectance/albedo, not to mention some very pretty whole-earth photos.

 

[Vikrant]

New Delhi: In a technology that can bring down costs significantly of launching satellites, India will test reusable launch vehicle in July, the government on Monday said.

The Indian Space Research (ISRO) will also launch Astrosat, India's first dedicated satellite for astronomy by September 2015.

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India to test reusable launch vehicle in July ISRO - IBNLive

 

[ScienceRocks]

MIT engineers unveil an inflatable shelter for camping on the Moon

Scientists have been exploring dwelling designs that will allow astronauts to sleep on the moon – but what about good old fashioned camping? Two MIT engineers have developed a solar-poweredinflatable pod that could allow astronauts to spend days on the lunar surface without having to return to base for life support. The mobile camper would allow two NASA astronauts to spend the night to conduct research, with protection from the sun and a support system for vitals and equipment.
Moon exploration thus far has been limited, with astronaut explorers only able to examine themoon’s surface for short periods of time as they need to return to their landing modules for life support. The MIT engineers’ new “camping system” could allow for two astronauts to take their time with research and exploration on the lunar surface, in an easily packed system that, deflated, takes up as much space as a refrigerator and weighs just 273 pounds.

 

[ScienceRocks]

A 15-yr-old UK schoolboy has discovered a new (exo)planet

A 15-yr-old schoolboy has discovered a new planet orbiting a star 1000 light years away in our galaxy. Tom Wagg was doing work-experience at Keele University when he spotted the planet by finding a tiny dip in the light of a star as a planet passed in front of it.
``I'm hugely excited to have a found a new planet, and I'm very impressed that we can find them so far away'', says Tom, now aged 17. It has taken two years of further observations to prove that Tom's discovery really is a planet.
Tom (photos below) found the planet by looking at data collected by the WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) project, which surveys the night skies monitoring millions of stars to look for the tell-tale tiny dips (transits) caused by planets passing in front of their host star.
Tom's planet has been given the catalogue number WASP-142b, being the 142nd discovery by the WASP collaboration. It is in the Southern constellation of Hydra. While astronomers worldwide have now found over 1000 extra-solar planets, Tom is possibly the youngest ever to have done so.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Pluto just 4 weeks, 20 million miles away for spacecraft
1 hour ago by By Marcia Dunn

This image made available by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute on June 11, 2015 shows four computer-enhanced views of Pluto, taken by New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). …more

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is at Pluto's doorstep, following an incredible journey of nine years and 3 billion miles.


Four weeks from Tuesday—on July 14—New Horizons will make its closest approach to Pluto. The spacecraft will fly within 7,750 miles, inside the orbits of Pluto's five known moons. That's the approximate distance between Seattle and Sydney.

It will be the first spacecraft to explore the tiny, icy world once considered a full-fledged planet.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-pluto-weeks-million-miles-spacecraft.html#jCp

Saturn spacecraft to buzz icy moon Dione June 16
10 hours ago by Preston Dyches

Cassini's penultimate encounter with Saturn's moon Dione is slated for June 16. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make a close flyby of Saturn's moon Dione on June 16, coming within 321 miles (516 kilometers) of the moon's surface. The spacecraft will make its closest approach to Dione at 1:12 p.m. PDT (4:12 p.m. EDT) on June 16.

During the flyby, Cassini's cameras and spectrometers will observe terrain that includes "Eurotas Chasmata," a region first observed 35 years ago by NASA's Voyager mission as bright, wispy streaks. After the Voyager encounter, scientists considered the possibility that the streaks were bright material extruded onto the surface by geologic activity, such as ice volcanoes. Cassini's close flybys and sharp vision later revealed the bright streaks to be an intricate network of braided canyons with bright walls, called linea.

Cassini will also try to detect and determine the composition of any fine particles being emitted from Dione, which could indicate low-level geologic activity.

Mission controllers expect images to begin arriving on Earth within a few days of the encounter.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-saturn-spacecraft-icy-moon-dione.html#jCp

 

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http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/measuring-the-mass-of-a-mars-size-exoplanet

Daniel Jontof-Hutter, a research associate at the Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, led a team of astronomers in a study to measure the mass of all three planets by precisely observing the times each planet passed in front of, or transited, the star Kepler-138


Measuring the mass of a Mars-size exoplanet

Determining the size of an Earth-size exoplanet by the amount of starlight it blocks hundreds of light-years away once was the realm of science fiction. Measuring the mass of such a small planet based on its gravity was another level entirely, but astronomers have done just that for an exoplanet fifty percent the size of Earth.

Researchers using NASA's Kepler mission data have measured the mass of a Mars-size exoplanet that is about one tenth the mass of Earth. Called Kepler-138b, it is the first exoplanet smaller than Earth to have both its mass and size measured. This significantly extends the range of planets with measured densities.

By measuring both the mass and size of an exoplanet, scientists can calculate the density and infer the bulk composition to determine if a planet is predominantly made of rock, water or gas. Tiny Kepler-138b's density is consistent with a rocky composition like Earth or Mars, but further observations are needed before astronomers can definitively say that it is a rocky world.



Kepler-138b is the innermost of three planets that orbit Kepler-138, a star less than half the size of our sun and roughly 30 percent cooler. The Kepler-138 system is located about 200 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra.

The outer two planets, Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d, are approximately the size of Earth. Kepler-138c is likely to be rocky, whereas Kepler-138d is less dense and cannot be made of the same mix of material as Earth. All three planets orbit too close to their star for liquid water to exist on the surface and support life, as we know it.


This plot shows the masses and sizes of the smallest exoplanets for which both quantities have been measured. The solar system planets (shown in red) are for comparison.The three Kepler-138 planets (shown in orange) are among the four smallest exoplanets with both size and mass measurements. Kepler-138b is the first exoplanet smaller than Earth to have both its mass and size measured. This significantly extends the range of planets with measured densities.
Credits: NASA Ames/W Stenzel
Mars-size Kepler-138b gets a mass
"The substantial difference between the densities of the two larger planets tells us that not all planets similar to Earth in size are rocky," said Jack Lissauer, co-author and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Further study of small planets will help provide more understanding of the diversity that exists in nature, and will help determine if rocky planets like Earth are common or rare."

 

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More for space travel!!! wahooo

New Horizons - YouTube

 

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Traces of Earliest Stars That Enriched Cosmos Are Spied
By DENNIS OVERBYEJUNE 17, 2015

Inside
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Photo

An artist's impression of the distant galaxy CR7. Scientists say light from the galaxy has been traveling to us for 12.9 billion years. Credit M. Kornmesser/European Southern Observatory

Astronomers said Wednesday that they had discovered a lost generation of monster stars that ushered light into the universe after the Big Bang and jump-started the creation of the elements needed for planets and life before disappearing forever.

Modern-day stars like our sun have a healthy mix of heavy elements, known as metals, but in the aftermath of the Big Bang only hydrogen, helium and small traces of lithium were available to make the first stars.

 

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Titan's atmosphere even more Earth-like than previously thought
20 hours ago

Enlarge
True-color image of layers of haze in Titan's atmosphere. Credit: NASA

Scientists at UCL have observed how a widespread polar wind is driving gas from the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. The team analysed data gathered over seven years by the international Cassini probe, and found that the interactions between Titan's atmosphere, and the solar magnetic field and radiation, create a wind of hydrocarbons and nitriles being blown away from its polar regions into space. This is very similar to the wind observed coming from the Earth's polar regions.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-titan-atmosphere-earth-like-previously-thought.html#jCp