Mar 1 2010

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-168

NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR COTS 1 LAUNCH TARGETED FOR DEC. 7

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The first SpaceX Falcon 9 demonstration launch for NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program is targeted for liftoff on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Liftoff will occur from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 9:03 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. EST. If necessary, launch opportunities also are available on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 with the same window. Known as COTS 1, the launch is the first flight of the Dragon spacecraft and the first commercial attempt to re-enter a spacecraft from orbit. This is the first of three test launches currently planned in the Falcon 9 test flight series. It is intended as a demonstration mission to prove key capabilities such as launch, structural integrity of the Dragon spacecraft, on-orbit operation, re-entry, descent and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NASA established the COTS program to procure a commercial launch service to stimulate the commercial space industry, to facilitate a private industry cargo capability to the International Space Station as soon as achievable, and to achieve cost effective access to low Earth orbit that will attract private customers. PRELAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE The prelaunch news conference for the COTS 1 Falcon 9 launch is planned for L-1, currently Monday, Dec. 6 at 1:30 p.m., at the press site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Television will provide live coverage, and the briefing will be streamed at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. The prelaunch news conference participants will be: - Phil McAlister, acting director, Commercial Space Flight Development NASA Headquarters, Washington - Alan Lindenmoyer, manager, Commercial Crew and Cargo Program NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston - Gwynne Shotwell, president SpaceX, Hawthorne, Calif. - Mike McAleenan, Falcon 9 Launch Weather Officer 45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station A post-mission news conference will be held at Kennedy approximately one hour after splashdown occurs. Audio of the prelaunch and post-mission news conferences also will be carried on the NASA ?V? circuits, which can be accessed directly by dialing 321-867- 1220, 1240, 1260 or 7135. FALCON 9 LAUNCH PAD PHOTO OPPORTUNITY On Dec. 6 following the prelaunch news conference, a photo opportunity of the Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad will be available for media representatives. Spokespeople from SpaceX will be available to answer questions. Journalists who wish to participate should plan to depart the Kennedy press site no earlier than 2:15 p.m. Media will be returned to the press site by approximately 4 p.m. REMOTE CAMERA SET-UPS While sound activated remote cameras cannot be established inside the launch pad perimeter, other locations will be available. Media representatives wishing to establish remote cameras should be at the Kennedy press site on L-1, Dec. 6, at 9 a.m. NASA TV & WEB LAUNCH COVERAGE On launch day, Dec. 7, NASA TV live coverage will begin at the conclusion of the built in hold at T-5 minutes and counting. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv Prelaunch and launch day coverage of the COTS 1 Falcon 9 mission will be available on the NASA website at: http://www.nasa.gov Coverage will include live streaming and text updates of the final five minutes of the countdown. On-demand streaming video, podcast and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. To access these features, go to NASA's COTS website at: http://www.nasa.gov/cots MEDIA CREDENTIALS To attend the prelaunch news conference and/or to cover the launch, journalists must request credentials at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov The Kennedy Badging Office on SR-405 is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m.

-end-

RELEASE: 10-029

SUSPECTED ASTEROID COLLISION LEAVES TRAILING DEBRIS

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before. Asteroid collisions are energetic, with an average impact speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, or five times faster than a rifle bullet. The comet-like object imaged by Hubble, called P/2010 A2, was first discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research, or LINEAR, program sky survey on Jan. 6. New Hubble images taken on Jan. 25 and 29 show a complex X-pattern of filamentary structures near the nucleus. "This is quite different from the smooth dust envelopes of normal comets, said principal investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles. The filaments are made of dust and gravel, presumably recently thrown out of the nucleus. Some are swept back by radiation pressure from sunlight to create straight dust streaks. Embedded in the filaments are co-moving blobs of dust that likely originated from tiny unseen parent bodies. Hubble shows the main nucleus of P/2010 A2 lies outside its own halo of dust. This has never been seen before in a comet-like object. The nucleus is estimated to be 460 feet in diameter. Normal comets fall into the inner regions of the solar system from icy reservoirs in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. As comets near the sun and warm up, ice near the surface vaporizes and ejects material from the solid comet nucleus via jets. But P/2010 A2 may have a different origin. It orbits in the warm, inner regions of the asteroid belt where its nearest neighbors are dry rocky bodies lacking volatile materials. This leaves open the possibility that the complex debris tail is the result of an impact between two bodies, rather than ice simply melting from a parent body. "If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight, Jewitt said. The main nucleus of P/2010 A2 would be the surviving remnant of this so-called hypervelocity collision. "The filamentary appearance of P/2010 A2 is different from anything seen in Hubble images of normal comets, consistent with the action of a different process, Jewitt said. An impact origin also would be consistent with the absence of gas in spectra recorded using ground-based telescopes. The asteroid belt contains abundant evidence of ancient collisions that have shattered precursor bodies into fragments. The orbit of P/2010 A2 is consistent with membership in the Flora asteroid family, produced by collisional shattering more than 100 million years ago. One fragment of that ancient smashup may have struck Earth 65 million years ago, triggering a mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. But, until now, no such asteroid-asteroid collision has been caught "in the act. At the time of the Hubble observations, the object was approximately 180 million miles from the sun and 90 million miles from Earth. The Hubble images were recorded with the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which is capable of detecting house-sized fragments at the distance of the asteroid belt. For Hubble images and more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

-end-

'

'

'

'

'

'

'

'