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ARES Model at MSFC
| Name of Image |
ARES Model at MSFC |
| Date of Image |
2006-07-14 |
| Full Description |
A model of the new Aries I crew launch vehicle, for which NASA is designing, testing and evaluating hardware and related systems, is seen here on display at the Marshall Space Fight Center (MSFC), in Huntsville, Alabama. The Ares I crew launch vehicle is the rocket that will carry a new generation of space explorers into orbit. Under the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration, Ares I is a chief component of the cost-effective space transportation infrastructure being developed by NASA?s Constellation Program. These transportation systems will safely and reliably carry human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The Ares I effort includes multiple project element teams at NASA centers and contract organizations around the nation, and is led by the Exploration Launch Projects Office at NASA?s MFSC. Together, these teams are developing vehicle hardware, evolving proven technologies, and testing components and systems. Their work builds on powerful, reliable space shuttle propulsion elements and nearly a half-century of NASA space flight experience and technological advances. Ares I is an inline, two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Crew Exploration Vehicle, its service module and a launch abort system. The launch vehicle?s first stage is a single, five-segment reusable solid rocket booster derived from the Space Shuttle Program?s reusable solid rocket motor that burns a specially formulated and shaped solid propellant called polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN). The second or upper stage will be propelled by a J-2X main engine fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In addition to its primary mission of carrying crews of four to six astronauts to Earth orbit, the launch vehicle?s 25-ton payload capacity might be used for delivering cargo to space, bringing resources and supplies to the International Space Station or dropping payloads off in orbit for retrieval and transport to exploration teams on the moon. Crew transportation to the space station is planned to begin no later than 2014. The first lunar excursion is scheduled for the 2020 timeframe. |
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Leonids from Orbit
| Title |
Leonids from Orbit |
| Explanation |
Here is what a meteor shower [ http://www.imo.net/calendar/cal00.html ] looks like from orbit. During the peak of the 1997 Leonid Meteor Shower [ http://www-space.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/1997.html ], the MSX satellite [ http://scies.plh.af.mil:8600 ] imaged from above 29 meteors over a 48 minute period entering the Earth's atmosphere. From above [ http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/leonidnews25.html ], meteors create short bright streaks. Visible [ http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/MS043doc.pdf ] beneath the meteors are clouds lit by reflected moonlight, while visible above is the constellation of Aries [ http://www.astronomical.org/constellations/ari.html ]. The directions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981208.html ] of the meteor streaks are nearly parallel, confirming that the meteors all originate [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980130.html ] from the same meteor stream. Recent analysis of the 2000 Leonids meteor shower [ http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/leonid2000.html ] indicates to many astronomers that the 2001 Leonids [ http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/dust2001.html ] may develop [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999JIMO...27...85M ] into a real meteor storm [ http://www.science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast22jun99_2.htm ], with meteor rates [ http://www.atnf.csiro.au/asa_www/info_sheets/leonids.html ] perhaps exceeding one per second visible from parts of Asia. |
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GRB 060218: A Mysterious Tra
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| Title |
GRB 060218: A Mysterious Transient |
| Explanation |
What is it? Something is happening in a small portion of the sky toward the constellation [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellations ] of Aries [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aries ]. Telescopes around the globe are tracking an unusual transient there as it changes day by day. No one is sure what it will do next. The entire space mystery began [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/4775.gcn3 ] on February 18 when the Earth-orbiting robot Swift satellite [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/spacecraft/index.html ] noticed an unusual transient began to glow dimly in gamma rays [ http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/gamma.html ]. Dubbed GRB 060218, the object is a type of gamma ray burst [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000702.html ] (GRB) but the way its brightness changes is very unusual. Since detection, GRB 060218 [ http://grad40.as.utexas.edu/grblog.php?view=burst&GRB=20060218A ] has been found to emit light across the electromagnetic spectrum [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html ], including radio waves and visible light. Pictured above [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/oddball_burst.html ], the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) image [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/4777.gcn3 ] of the field of GRB 060218 well prior to its Swift trigger is shown on the left, while the same field, taken by the orbiting Swift satellites' ultraviolet telescope after the Swift trigger, is shown on the right. The oddball GRB [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/4787.gcn3 ] is visible in the center of the right image. Subsequent observations found a redshift [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/4792.gcn3 ] for the transient of z=0.033, showing it to be only about 440 million light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] away, relatively nearby compared to typical GRBs. Whether GRB 060218 represents a new type of gamma ray burst [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray_burst ], a new type of supernova [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html ], or an unusual link [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020517.html ] between the GRBs and supernovas has become an instant topic of research. |
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