Oct 8 2015

From The Space Library

Banking X-ray Data For The Future

Archives, in their many forms, save information from today that people will want to access and study in the future. This is a critical function of all archives, but it is especially important when it comes to storing data from today's modern telescopes.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has collected data for over sixteen years on thousands of different objects throughout the Universe. Once the data is processed, all of the data goes into an archive and is available to the public.

To celebrate American Archive Month, we are releasing a collection of new images from the Chandra archive.

By combining data from different observation dates, new perspectives of cosmic objects can be created. With archives like those from Chandra and other major observatories, such vistas will be available for future exploration.

The objects in this year's archive release, from left to right, are:

Top row: W44: Also known as G34.7-0.4, W44 is an expanding supernova remnant that is interacting with dense interstellar material that surrounds it. X-rays from Chandra (blue) show that hot gas fills the shell of the supernova remnant as it moves outward. Infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the shell of the supernova remnant (green) as well as the molecular cloud (red) into which the supernova remnant is moving and the stars in the field of view. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Georgia/R.Shelton & NASA/CXC/GSFC/R.Petre; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

SN 1987A: First seen in 1987, this supernova (dubbed SN 1987A) was the brightest supernova and nearest one to Earth in the last century. In a supernova explosion, a massive star runs out of fuel then collapses onto their core, flinging the outer layers of the star into space. By combining X-ray data from Chandra (blue) with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (appearing orange and red), astronomers can observe the evolution of the expanding shell of hot gas generated by the explosion and watch as a shock wave from the blast heats gas that once surrounded the doomed star. The two bright stars near SN 1987A are not associated with the supernova. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PUS/E.Helder et al; Optical: NASA/STScI

Kesteven 79: Like SN 1987A, this object, known as Kesteven 79, is the remnant of a supernova explosion, but one that went off thousands of years ago. When massive stars run out of fuel, their cores collapse, generating a shock wave that flings the outer layers of the star into space. An expanding shell of debris and the surviving dense central core are often heated to millions of degrees, and give off X-rays. In this image of Kesteven 79, X-rays detected by Chandra (red, green, and blue) have been combined with an optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey of the field of view that reveals the stars (appearing as white). Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward et al, Optical: DSS

Bottom row: MS 0735.6+7421: The galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 is home to one of the most powerful eruptions ever observed. X-rays detected by Chandra (blue) show the hot gas that comprises much of the mass of this enormous object. Within the Chandra data, holes, or cavities, can be seen. These cavities were created by an outburst from a supermassive black hole at the center of the cluster, which ejected the enormous jets detected in radio waves (pink) detected the Very Large Array. These data have been combined with optical data from Hubble of galaxies in the cluster and stars in the field of view (orange). Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Waterloo/A.Vantyghem et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Radio: NRAO/VLA

3C295: The vast cloud of 50-million-degree gas that pervades the galaxy cluster 3C295 is only visible with an X-ray telescope like Chandra. This composite image shows the superheated gas, detected by Chandra (pink), which has a mass equal to that of a thousand galaxies. Hubble's optical data (yellow) reveal some of the individual galaxies in the cluster. Galaxy clusters like 3C295 also contain large amounts of dark matter, which holds the hot gas and galaxies together. The total mass of the dark matter needed is typically five times as great as the gas and galaxies combined. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Cambridge/S.Allen et al; Optical: NASA/STScI

Guitar Nebula: The pulsar B2224+65 is moving through space very rapidly. Because of its high speed, the pulsar is creating a bow shock in its wake. This structure is known as the Guitar Nebula and the likeness of the musical instrument can be seen in the optical data (blue) of this composite image taken by Hubble and the Palomar Observatory. X-ray data from Chandra (pink) reveal a long jet that is coincident with the location of the pulsar at the tip of the "guitar," but is not aligned with its direction of motion. Astronomers will continue to study this system to determine the nature of this X-ray jet. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/S.Johnson et al, Optical: NASA/STScI & Palomar Observatory 5-m Hale Telescope

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations.

Release 15-206 NASA Releases Plan Outlining Next Steps in the Journey to Mars

NASA is leading our nation and the world on a journey to Mars, and Thursday the agency released a detailed outline of that plan in its report, “NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration.”

“NASA is closer to sending American astronauts to Mars than at any point in our history,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Today, we are publishing additional details about our journey to Mars plan and how we are aligning all of our work in support of this goal. In the coming weeks, I look forward to continuing to discuss the details of our plan with members of Congress, as well as our commercial and our international and partners, many of whom will be attending the International Astronautical Congress next week.”

The plan can be read online at this link: [[1]]

The journey to Mars crosses three thresholds, each with increasing challenges as humans move farther from Earth. NASA is managing these challenges by developing and demonstrating capabilities in incremental steps:

Earth Reliant exploration is focused on research aboard the International Space Station. From this world-class microgravity laboratory, we are testing technologies and advancing human health and performance research that will enable deep space, long duration missions.

In the Proving Ground, NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment that allows crews to return to Earth in a matter of days. Primarily operating in cislunar space—the volume of space around the moon featuring multiple possible stable staging orbits for future deep space missions—NASA will advance and validate capabilities required for humans to live and work at distances much farther away from our home planet, such as at Mars.

Earth Independent activities build on what we learn on the space station and in deep space to enable human missions to the Mars vicinity, possibly to low-Mars orbit or one of the Martian moons, and eventually the Martian surface. Future Mars missions will represent a collaborative effort between NASA and its partners—a global achievement that marks a transition in humanity’s expansion as we go to Mars to seek the potential for sustainable life beyond Earth.

“NASA’s strategy connects near-term activities and capability development to the journey to Mars and a future with a sustainable human presence in deep space,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters. “This strategy charts a course toward horizon goals, while delivering near-term benefits, and defining a resilient architecture that can accommodate budgetary changes, political priorities, new scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, and evolving partnerships.”

NASA is charting new territory, and we will adapt to new scientific discoveries and new opportunities. Our current efforts are focused on pieces of the architecture that we know are needed. In parallel, we continue to refine an evolving architecture for the capabilities that require further investigation. These efforts will define the next two decades on the journey to Mars.

CHALLENGES FOR SPACE PIONEERS

Living and working in space require accepting risks—and the journey to Mars is worth the risks. A new and powerful space transportation system is key to the journey, but NASA also will need to learn new ways of operating in space, based on self-reliance and increased system reliability. We will use proving ground missions to validate transportation and habitation capabilities as well as new operational approaches to stay productive in space while reducing reliance on Earth.

We identify the technological and operational challenges in three categories: transportation, sending humans and cargo through space efficiently, safely, and reliably; working in space, enabling productive operations for crew and robotic systems; and staying healthy, developing habitation systems that provide safe, healthy, and sustainable human exploration. Bridging these three categories are the overarching logistical challenges facing crewed missions lasting up to 1,100 days and exploration campaigns that span decades.

STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS TO ADDRESS PIONEERING CHALLENGES

NASA is investing in powerful capabilities and state-of-the-art technologies that benefit both NASA and our industry partners while minimizing overall costs through innovative partnerships. Through our evolvable transportation infrastructure, ongoing spaceflight architecture studies, and rapid prototyping activities, we are developing resilient architecture concepts that focus on critical capabilities across a range of potential missions. We are investing in technologies that provide large returns, and maximizing flexibility and adaptability through commonality, modularity, and reusability.

On the space station, we are advancing human health and behavioral research for Mars-class missions. We are pushing the state-of-the-art life support systems, printing 3-D parts, and analyzing material handling techniques for in-situ resource utilization. The upcoming eighth SpaceX commercial resupply services mission will launch the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, a capability demonstration for inflatable space habitats.

With the Space Launch System, Orion crewed spacecraft, and revitalized space launch complex, we are developing core transportation capabilities for the journey to Mars and ensuring continued access for our commercial crew and cargo partners to maintain operations and stimulate new economic activity in low-Earth orbit. This secured U.S. commercial access to low-Earth orbit allows NASA to continue leveraging the station as a microgravity test bed while preparing for missions in the proving ground of deep space and beyond.

Through the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), we will demonstrate an advanced solar electric propulsion capability that will be a critical component of our journey to Mars. ARM will also provide an unprecedented opportunity for us to validate new spacewalk and sample handling techniques as astronauts investigate several tons of an asteroid boulder – potentially opening new scientific discoveries about the formation of our solar system and beginning of life on Earth

We are managing and directing the ground-based facilities and services provided by the Deep Space Network (DSN), Near Earth Network (NEN), and Space Network (SN) – critical communications capabilities that we continue to advance for human and robotic communication throughout the solar system.

Through our robotic emissaries, we have already been on and around Mars for 40 years, taking nearly every opportunity to send orbiters, landers, and rovers with increasingly complex experiments and sensing systems. These orbiters and rovers have returned vital data about the Martian environment, helping us understand what challenges we may face and resources we may encounter. The revolutionary Curiosity sky crane placed nearly one metric ton – about the size of a small car – safely on the surface of Mars, but we need to be able to land at least 10 times that weight with humans – and then be able to get them off the surface.

These challenges are solvable, and NASA and its partners are working on the solutions every day so we can answer some of humanity’s fundamental questions about life beyond Earth: Was Mars home to microbial life? Is it today? Could it be a safe home for humans one day? What can it teach us about life elsewhere in the cosmos or how life began on Earth? What can it teach us about Earth’s past, present and future?

The journey to Mars is an historic pioneering endeavor—a journey made possible by a sustained effort of science and exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit with successively more capable technologies and partnerships.

Release 15-205 NASA Announces Winners for 3-D Printed Container Contest

A workshop where tools floated around would be difficult to work in. So, NASA has chosen two winning designs from K-12 students for a 3-D printed container to help astronauts on the International Space Station keep things in order.

The agency, in partnership with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Foundation, which managed the competition, announced the winners of the Future Engineers 3-D Space Container Challenge Thursday. The winning designs focused on making life in space a little more comfortable for astronauts.

“The simplest tasks on Earth can be quite challenging, and even dangerous, in space,” said Niki Werkheiser, NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing project manager. “Being able to 3-D print technical parts, as well as the lifestyle items that we use every day will not only help enable deep space travel, but can make the trip more pleasant for astronauts.”

The 3-D Space Container Challenge asked students to design models of containers that could be used in space. They could range from simple containers that could be used to hold collected rocks on Mars or an astronaut’s food, to advanced containers for experiments that study fruit flies. Students across the United States spent part of their summer using 3-D modeling software to design containers that could be 3-D printed, with the ultimate goal of advancing human space exploration on the International Space Station, Mars and beyond.

Ryan Beam of Scotts Valley, California, designed the winning container in the Teen Group, ages 13-19. Beam’s ClipCatch design will allow astronauts on the space station to clip their fingernails without worrying about the clippings floating away and potentially becoming harmful debris.

Emily Takara from Cupertino, California, designed the winning container from the Junior Group, ages 5-12. Her design is a Flower Tea Cage, which uses the surface tension of liquids in a microgravity environment to allow astronauts to make tea. In space, liquids form spheres and adhere to things they touch.

The top 10 entries from each age group are:

Teen Group

• Ryan Beam, Scotts Valley, California – ClipCatch
• Heather Mercieca, Monrovia, California – ECOntainer
• Geoffrey Thomas, Westford, Massachusetts – Expandable Container
• Rajan Vivek, Scottsdale, Arizona – Hydroponic Plant Box
• Reid Barton, Los Gatos, California – InstaTube
• N’yoma Diamond, Croton on Hudson, New York – Store-All Container
• Treyton Bostick, North Street, Michigan – Grow Plants in Space
• Casey Johnson, Bedford, Pennsylvania – Paste Dispenser Tube
• Katherine Baney, Rohnert Park, California – Petri Tower
• Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Hockessin, Delaware – Collapsible Container

Junior Group

• Sarah Daly, Columbia, Maryland – Fly Feeder 7.0
• Emily Takara, Cupertino, California – Flower Tea Cage
• William Van Dyke, Kingwood, Texas – Space Terrarium v.4
• Vera Zavadskaya, Verona, New Jersey – Aquarius
• Yosef ‘Joey’ Granillo, University City, Missouri – Laundroball
• Nagasai Sreyash Sola, Ashburn, Virginia – Centrivac Container
• Emma Drugge, Norwalk, California – Explorer Puzzle Box
• Joseph Quinn, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin – Secret Container Cup
• Ansel Austin, Cupertino, California – Galaxy Box
• Ermis Theodoridis, Katy, Texas – EcoBOX

Demonstrating the use of a 3-D printer for on-demand manufacturing technology in space is the first step toward realizing a print-on-demand “machine shop” for future long-duration exploration missions where there is a limited resupply capability. The 3-D Space Container Challenge, which supports NASA’s In-space Manufacturing Initiative, is the second in a series of Future Engineers 3-D Printing challenges for students focused on designing solutions to real-world space exploration problems.

The In-space Manufacturing Initiative falls under NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and is managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Release 15-202 NASA, Global Aviation Leaders Talk Green Aviation and More at Annual Summit

Representatives from 21 aviation research organizations around the world came together this week at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California to explore solutions for many of today’s most significant aviation challenges.

Hosted this year by NASA, the sixth annual International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) Summit, which wrapped up Thursday, provided a non-competitive environment where global aviation leaders evaluated the progress of technical collaborations on issues. These included the environmental impacts of aviation; alternative fuels research; developing a global approach to air traffic management research; supersonic aircraft; and wind tunnel testing. The IFAR Steering Committee also proposed a strategy to ensure the group’s long-term sustainability.

“IFAR membership is growing and the group is maturing with every passing year,” said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington and current IFAR chair. “More and more countries understand that forming a cohesive group to leverage our respective resources can make real progress on solving many of the global aviation issues we all face.”

IFAR participants commended NASA for its leadership in alternative fuels and air traffic management research and development, and its supersonics working groups. They agreed these working groups should continue their important work for the foreseeable future. Research into aircraft efficiency, noise and weather, which is led by the German Aerospace Center, French aerospace lab ONERA, and Netherlands Aerospace Centre also were highlighted as focus areas warranting innovative collaborations.

In addition to its scientific and technical expertise, IFAR promotes exchanges among young aviation scientists and engineers. During a Young Researchers Conference held at this year’s summit, 18 participants from the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, Romania, South Korea and Portugal exchanged views on the future of aviation as contributions to IFAR´s own vision.

The next IFAR summit will be hosted in the fall of 2016 by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute in Daejeon, Republic of South Korea.

Release 15-201 International Space Agencies Meet to Advance Space Exploration

The following is a statement from the space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG):

Senior managers representing 14 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) affirmed their commitment to fostering broad international cooperation to further advance the exploration and utilisation of space.

The senior managers met at the European Space Agency (ESA) European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt on Oct. 7 to discuss potential common next steps for the implementation of the Global Exploration Roadmap.

The senior managers reiterated their support of the roadmap’s step-wise approach to the expansion of human presence into the solar system with human missions to the surface of Mars as the overarching long-term goal. They recognized the value of human missions to cislunar space to prepare for missions farther into space. They also discussed innovative opportunities created by the presence of humans and their infrastructure in cislunar space for implementation of robotic and human lunar surface missions.

The senior managers agreed that the International Space Station (ISS) is a critical platform for understanding the effects of long-term microgravity exposure on the human body and advancing systems and technology readiness for future missions. They acknowledged the efforts by several agencies to foster private sector engagement for the provision and utilisation of capabilities in low-Earth orbit (LEO). They agreed to further elaborate a vision for the future of human activity in LEO, including maximising the use of the ISS as an orbiting laboratory during its lifetime while noting the need for research platforms in LEO for governmental and non-governmental use after the ISS.

The space agency managers welcomed the development of a white paper on science opportunities enabled by human exploration, which is being prepared by ISECG participant space agencies with the broader science community. They recognised the importance and willingness of engagement by the science community to inform exploration scenario developments and to illustrate how human exploration leads to new and outstanding scientific knowledge as well as other societal benefits.

They also discussed the importance of advancing knowledge and technologies for the use of local resources on the Moon and Mars for the sake of the exploration missions. This is of great interest to several space agencies, which are, in coordination with the international science community and private entities, assessing sustainable exploration approaches utilising in-situ resources (in particular lunar volatiles). Space agencies are advancing continued collaboration with government and non-government entities in this area that will be documented in a public website.

The meeting included representatives from the Italian Space Agency, the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, China National Space Administration, Canadian Space Agency, German Aerospace Center, ESA, Indian Space Research Organisation, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, State Space Agency of Ukraine, Russian Federal Space Agency, the U.K. Space Agency and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency.

Follow Mark Watney’s Epic Trek on Mars with New NASA Web Tool NASA is unveiling a new edition of its popular Mars Trek web tool. The new edition adds features that take you on fictional astronaut Mark Watney’s daunting 2,000 mile (3,200 kilometer) journey of survival across the Red Planet.

The release of Mars Trek 2.0 comes days after the Oct. 2 opening of 20th Century Fox’s movie, “The Martian,” based on the novel by Andy Weir.

In the book and movie, Watney is marooned on Mars and forced on a lengthy journey with the hope of rescue. While the astronaut’s path is fictitious, it takes place on real areas of Mars. Watney’s trek takes him across a wide range of remarkable Martian terrain, from flat plains covered in deposits from Mars’ watery distant past, to rugged highlands preserving some of the most ancient land on the Red Planet. Mars Trek’s bookmark for "The Martian" allows you to follow Watney’s intended path from Acidalia Planitia to the large crater Schiaparelli. Waypoints along the route provide you with expert commentary from Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The bookmark’s 2D view provides an excellent overview of the path of Watney’s odyssey and critical points of interest along the way. The bookmark’s 3D view lets you fly along Watney’s path at user-selected speeds, stopping along the way and panning across the remarkable terrain. As you explore, you’ll gain a better understanding of this fascinating terrain, the forces that formed it, and NASA’s plans for continuing exploration in its journey to Mars.

Mars Trek is one of NASA’s planetary mapping and modeling web portals. It makes it easy for mission planners, scientists, students and the public to visualize details on the surface of Mars, as seen with a variety of instruments aboard a number of spacecraft orbiting Mars.