Archive for January, 2010

The latest news and happenings around NASA. Including STS-130, the rover Spirit, SDO, WISE and the STS-129 crew.

NASA has decided that Spirit’s mobile stage has ended, and that the priority will be to save energy and prepare for winter. Also, six years on Mars and what it looks like through the eyes of Spirit.

Image of Spirit in its current and final location on Mars, “Troy”. Image from Sol 2154.

WASHINGTON — After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful.

The venerable robot’s primary task in the next few weeks will be to position itself to combat the severe Martian winter. If Spirit survives, it will continue conducting significant new science from its final location. The rover’s mission could continue for several months to years.

“Spirit is not dead; it has just entered another phase of its long life,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We told the world last year that attempts to set the beloved robot free may not be successful. It looks like Spirit’s current location on Mars will be its final resting place.”

More here.

The two NASA Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity have been wildly successful. Both recently passing the six year mark, far exceeding their 90-sol mission plan for each. Spirit landed on Mars on the 4th of January, Opportunity landed six years ago yesterday. Spirit has had to struggle there is no doubt, not only for its very survival but also to uncover the mysteries of the planet Mars. Indeed, while Spirit’s very future is in question, Opportunity continues to keep on keeping on and this video goes over some of the successes of the mission so far.

On February 5th, 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory will finally begin its journey to explore the sun. Below is a video that gives you an idea just how important and revolutionary this mission will be to our basic understanding of our sun.

This Week At NASA, the weekly look of the latest events and news around NASA. This week discusses the STS-130 crew, the Solar Dynamic Observatory, the upcoming Expedition 23 crew, the past STS-129 crew, the Mars rover Opportunity, and finally the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Earlier today we saw the first docking to the Poisk module, also known as the Mini-Research Module 2. On the 14th of this month, cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Maxim Suraev prepared the module for spacecraft docking and below is an image of Oleg Kotov from that spacewalk.

At 5:03 a.m. EST this morning, cosmonaut Max Suraey and astronaut Commander Jeff Williams of the Expedition 22 crew, moved the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft and docked to the Poisk module at 5:24 a.m EST. The Poisk module is ISS’s new docking module, having docked with the station in November of last year.

Early next month Endeavour, during its STS-130 mission will be carrying the Tranquility module with its Cupola attachment to be joined to ISS. Below is a short video about the two and the upcoming mission.

One frozen Canadian river, taken from the Aqua satellite with the MODIS instrument.

Still fragile and shaped by the river currents, a thin layer of new ice formed over Québec, Canada’s, St. Lawrence River in mid-January 2010. This image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on January 17, shows the mouth of the river.

The water ranges from black to a rich blue-green tone, its color intensified by the contrast between it and the winter white landscape around it. The green tones of the river are visible beneath the thin ice, which is semi-transparent. Thicker ice (solid white) is evident along the south shore.

The bright white line on the north shore of the river is Highway 138. The road appears to be ice or snow-covered along this stretch, but Transports Québec reported that most of the road was clear.

On January 12th at 21:53 UTC, Haiti experienced a devastating 7.0 earthquake and the capital Port-au-Prince was particularly hard hit. Below are images from various earth satellites from multiple sources. These images makes sure first responders have the best information of the city as it is so that they can navigate it.

I shouldn’t have to remind you, but clicking each image below offers a larger view. You can clearly see in just the first image the very tiny airport in which all the aid is pouring into and it’s easy to imagine the thousands of residents who need that help just from looking at the very large gray urban area in comparison.

I won’t ask anyone to donate, but those who wish to are best checking out Charity Navigator for a list of organizations that can not only help but are reputable.

Acquired January 15, 2010

While not detailed enough to reveal earthquake damage to houses and buildings, this regional view of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on January 15, 2010, illustrates some of the physical obstacles that have complicated the job of aid workers in the aftermath of the recent earthquake along the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden Fault south of the city.

The capital city is densely populated and densely built, with little open space apparent amid the gray pavement and buildings. With debris filling the streets, it has been difficult for supply trucks to maneuver, according to news reports. The single port through which large cargo ships can approach the city (image center) has been damaged, and the city’s only landing strip (top right) was overwhelmed by the number of flights trying to land and take off.

Acquired January 15, 2010

As rescue workers scramble to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people following Haiti’s earthquake, Earth observation satellite data continues to provide updated views of the situation on the ground.

Following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January, international agencies requested satellite data of the area from the International Charter on ‘Space and Major Disasters’.

The Charter, an international initiative aimed at providing satellite data free of charge to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world, immediately began re-tasking their satellites to get the data urgently needed.

Data are being collected by various satellites including Japan’s ALOS, CNES’s Spot-5, the U.S.’s WorldView and QuickBird, Canada’s RADARSAT-2, China’s HJ-1-A/B and ESA’s ERS-2 and Envisat.

These data are being processed into maps that show the degree of destruction. As soon as new data arrives, updated maps will be produced and made available to the international community. The updates may be accessed by clicking on the related links on the right.

Other satellite missions that are complementing those from the Charter include Germany’s TerraSAR-X, Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed, South Korea’s KOMPSAT-2 and the U.S.-based GeoEye-1.

Together with ESA, the Charter currently has 10 members: the French space agency (CNES), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the British National Space Centre/Disaster Monitoring Constellation (BNSC/DMC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Acquired January 13, 2010

Rubble spills onto the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in this GeoEye-1 image from January 14, 2010. The image only hints at the extent of the damage that occurred when a 7.0 earthquake rattled Haiti on January 12, 2010. Several buildings are very clearly damaged, but the other building may also be damaged beneath an intact roof. People, tiny dots at this scale, surround the piles of rubble along the edge of the streets.