Space Shuttle Atlantis – Landed

The Space Shuttle Atlantis Landed at Kennedy Space Center at 9:44 AM EST as Scheduled. Enjoy the eye candy.

Atlantis on Approach to Kennedy	Image Credits: NASA TV
Lined up and Straight	Atlantis View from the Cockpit. Headsup Display
Landing – Looking for that 15,000 Foot Runway	Flare over the Runway
Touchdown	Chute
Slowing	Atlantis Stopped – With Eagle

JWST – James Webb Space Telescope

Credit: NASA Video

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared observatory, and a partial successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST does not view visible light because light from the earliest universe has shifted toward the infrared (red shift). Infrared sensitivity is required in order to see further back in time toward the beginning of the universe than either Hubble or ground based observatories.The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint venture between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). In all, fifteen countries are making contributions to JWST. The are four main components to the scientific mission: Search for the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang Study galaxies and their formation and evolution Understand the formation of stars and planetary systems Study the origins of life on planetary systems

JWST is scheduled for launch in 2014 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. It will take up residence at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (SEL-2). SEL-2 is 1,500,000 km beyond the Earth from the Sun (the Earth-Moon L2 is 61,500 km beyond the Moon). The location was chosen in order to be able to shield the telescope from the infrared radiation of the Sun and the Earth. Currently, SEL-2 is occupied by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which was launched 30 June 2001, and the Herschel and Planck observatories, which were launched together on an Ariane 5 on 14 May 2009. The image at left is a cutaway diagram the the Ariane 5 rocket, illustrating how the JWST will fold up inside the payload fairing. With the large screen behind it, the JWST will be about 21 m in width. It will stand about three stories high. The main telescope mirror, which measures 6.5 m in diameter, is too large to launch in one piece. Instead, it consists of 17 individual mirror segments mounted on a frame which will be folded inside the fairing of the Ariane 5 at launch. Once it arrives at SEL-2, it will unfold, as this animation shows. There are four instruments designed to conduct the investigations on board the James Webb Space Telescope: Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI – provided by the European Consortium with the European Space Agency (ESA), and by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam – provided by the University of Arizona Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec – provided by ESA, with components provided by NASA/GSFC. Fine Guidance Sensor, or FGS – provided by the Canadian Space Agency. The FGS contains a dedicated Guider and a Tunable Filter Camera.

Credit: European Space Agency

Credit: NASA   Credit: NASA

The image at left shows the locations of the four instruments in the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). Below, the image shows the location of the instrument package within the JWST. The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is an imager/spectrograph that covers the wavelength range of 5 to 27 micrometers. The camera provides wide-field broadband imagery, and the spectrograph module provides medium-resolution spectroscopy over a smaller field of view compared to the imager. The nominal operating temperature for the MIRI is 7K. Additional information can be found at the MIRI website, Space Telescope Science Institute. The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) is an imager with a large field of view and high angular resolution. The NIRCam covers a wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 micrometers. More on NIRCam. The Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) measures the simultaneous spectra of more than 100 objects in a 9-square-arcminute field of view. This instrument provides medium-resolution spectroscopy over a wavelength range of 1 to 5 micrometers and lower-resolution spectroscopy from 0.6 to 5 micrometers. See the Space Telescope Science Institute information on NIRSpec. The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) sensor is used for both “guide star” acquisition and fine pointing. See information from the Space Telescope Science Institute about NIRSpec.

Recent Events

In October, the NIRSpec Engineering Test Unit (ETU) was completed by Astrium, and will be shipped to the United States later this year for integration testing. For additional information on the ETU, see this article in Space News. Integration testing will allow work to continue while the final NIRSpec instrument is developed. Along with the NIRSpec ETU, a test model of the other European instrument, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) will also be delivered.

See also:

The Wikipedia article on JWST.
NASA home page for JWST.
ESA home page for JWST.
CSA home page for JWST.
Make your own Paper Model of the JWST.
YouTube and JWST.

Progress Launch On YouTube – Stunning

2:50 – Dawn sunlight begins to shine on the contrail
4:00 – Starfish contrail
5:00 – Second stage separation
7:00 – Into the dawn sky

Near Earth Objects – 365 Day Ride

From the International Astronomical Union. “No objects are displayed that are more than 20 million km from the earth. Objects within one-third of this distance are colored red, objects within two-thirds are colored orange, other objects are green. Objects below the ecliptic plane are shown as outline circles, objects above as filled circles.”

LCROSS – Impact

Images and Events of the final hour of the LCROSS mission.

3:42 – I MB data rate has been confirmed

3:43 – First Image from LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft

3:48 – All Payload Instruments are Operating Nominally

3:59 – 3500 MPH at 3400 Miles from the Moon

4:23 – Poll of All Systems Ready for Observing Impact

4:31 – Impact of Centaur Stage

4:35 Impact of LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft

A possible impact image in the infrared can be seen at the forum at NasaSpaceFlight.com.

Centaur after Separation #1 with Low Data Rate Transmission	Centaur after Separation #2 with Low Data Rate Transmission
First Image of Moon after High Data Rate Enabled	Lunar Image
10 Minutes Before Impact	Aim Point at Cursor Arrow
4 Minutes Infrared Image	1 Minute – Transition to Flash Mode
30 Seconds	30 Seconds Infrared
15 Seconds Infrared	10 Seconds – Small Crater Visible at Top
Loss of Signal	It will be several days before the data has been calibrated and results begin to be released. Credit: Screen Shots of NASA TV Images

The World At Night – NSS Phoenix Chapter Meeting – 3 October 2009

This coming Saturday, 3 October 2009, at Christown Mall (Bethany Home Road and 19th Avenue), the Phoenix Chapter of the National Space Society will hold a brief meeting (12:30 PM) in conjunction with The World At Night exhibition. Christown Mall opens at 10:00 AM. The exhibit and chapter meeting will be near the Costco store. The World At Night is part of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). Membership forms for the National Space Society can be found here. For additional events, consult the NSS Phoenix Calendar.

Image from IYA 2009 used by permission

International Space Station – Ralf Vandebergh Photograph From Earth

Photograph used by permission of Ralf Vendebergh

I recently ran across this amazing picture of the International Space Station taken by Ralf Vandebergh. So I went looking for his work on the web. It is fascinating stuff Ralf uses a 10 inch Newtonian telescope with a videocam eyepiece. He manually tracks the ISS and other objects across the sky. Due to atmospheric turbulence (its why stars twinkle), a portion of one image may be clear and another blurry. By judicious combination of various images from the video and that good old standby Photoshop, you can create a nice image. Ralf has one from 21 March 2009 showing an astronaut performing a spacewalk outside the ISS. If you want to compare ISS components with what you see in the images, consult the link. Here are some additionl links: Mike Salway’s collection of Ralf’s images. Ralf’s Saturn weather photographs are at Saturn Report A NASA Image entitlrd “Space Station Construction Visible in Backyard Telescopes” A complete inventory can be found here. You can follow Ralf on Twitter

Augustine Commission – Launch Vehicles

Eye Candy.  Here are past, present and future launch vehicles that have been discussed during the Augustine Commission meetings.  Credit belongs to Mike Majeski, whose nom de plume on the forum at NasaSpaceFlight.com is gladiator1332.  Mike compiled the artwork from various posts on the forum. From left to right below:

Saturn V Space Shuttle Falcon 9 EELVs – Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (Atlas and Delta) Super EELV Sidemount Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles Direct Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles – Jupiter 130 and Jupiter 24x Ares V – Lite Ares I Ares V

Galaxy Collision Modelling

Found on Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy. This is really spectacular.

LROC Photos

Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto’s latest comment on her Facebook Wall shows the latest LROC photos. Here is one:

Credit: Mosaic of a floor-fractured crater, acquired by the Wide Angle Camera 560 nm filter. Scene is approximately 160 km across [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].