Orion Nebula Fully Unveiled in New Telescope Image

Amateur and professional astronomers alike know the Orion Nebula as one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky, and a new image from Europe's powerful VISTA telescope has captured it in a stunning new light. But rather than just seeing the visible cloud of gas enshrouding the stellar nursery, VISTA turned its infrared vision upon the young stars emerging in and around the nebula.
Four such youngsters at the center of the nebula have cleared out their immediate surroundings with ultraviolet radiation that causes nearby gas to glow. A red region directly above the center of the image reveals young stars that continue to form amidst clouds of interstellar gas. Such stars can eject gas at speeds of almost 435,000 miles per hour (700,000 km/hr).

Fainter red features below the Orion Nebula also represent lesser spots of activity where stars are being born.

Those features would typically be hidden from ordinary visible-light telescopes. But don't let that stop you from pointing your own camera toward the night sky -- as PopSci's Eric Adams noted in his DIY astrophotography guide, it's all worth the trouble.

Source: www.popsci.com

'Ingredients for Life' Present on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, Say Scientists

Some of 'the major ingredients for life' are present on one of Saturn's moons, according to University College London scientists.

A team from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory working on the Cassini-Huygens mission have found negatively charged water ions in the ice plume of Enceladus.

Their analysis of data gathered during the spacecraft's plume fly-throughs in 2008 provide evidence for the presence of liquid water.

The spacecraft's plasma spectrometer, used to gather this data, also found other species of negatively charged ions including hydrocarbons.

MSSL's Professor Andrew Coates, lead author of a paper on the latest discovery, said: "While it's no surprise that there is water there, these short-lived ions are extra evidence for sub-surface water and where there's water, carbon and energy, some of the major ingredients for life are present.

The surprise for us was to look at the mass of these ions. There were several peaks in the spectrum, and when we analysed them we saw the effect of water molecules clustering together one after the other."

Enceladus thus joins Earth, Titan and comets where negatively charged ions are known to exist in the solar system. Negative oxygen ions were discovered in Earth's ionosphere at the dawn of the space age. At Earth's surface, negative water ions are present where liquid water is in motion, such as waterfalls or crashing ocean waves.

The plasma spectrometer measures the density, flow velocity and temperature of ions and electrons that enter the instrument. But since the discovery of Enceladus' water ice plume, the instrument has also successfully captured and analysed samples of material in the jets.

Early in its mission, Cassini-Huygens discovered the plume that fountains water vapour and ice particles above Enceladus. Since then, scientists have found that these water products dominate Saturn's magnetic environment and create Saturn's huge E-ring.

At Titan, the same instrument detected extremely large negative hydrocarbon ions with masses up to 13,800 times that of hydrogen. Dr Coates and his colleagues believe large ions are the source of the smog-like haze that blocks most of Titan's surface from view.

The new findings add to astronomers' growing knowledge of the detailed chemistry of Enceladus' plume and Titan's atmosphere, giving new understanding of environments beyond Earth where prebiotic or life-sustaining environments might exist.

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which funds the UK involvement in Cassini-Huygens, said: "This measurement of water ions in the ice plume of Enceladus is incredibly exciting and provides us with further hope of finding water and maybe even life on this distant icy moon."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Endeavour Lifts Off in Space Shuttle's Final Night Launch

It's a sight captured by many a late-night stargazer: a shuttle streaking through the dark sky on its way to orbit. Last night, a gorgeous predawn launch of the space shuttle Endeavour marked the last scheduled night launch ever for the retiring NASA vehicle, even as NASA looks forward to a new age of commercial spaceflight.All four of the remaining shuttle flights are slated for the daytime, Space.com reports.

The 13-day mission's highlight involves bringing a huge new window to the International Space Station, so that residents of the orbital outpost can better direct the robotic arm and maybe even snap some prettier Twitpics . The window's addition in the new node would bring the space station to about 90 percent completion.
It's just one bittersweet part of the long goodbye for the shuttle. The vehicle's retirement will not only have riple effects on NASA employees and Florida's economy, but also marks the beginning of a transition toward relying more upon private vehicles to launch cargo and crew into low Earth orbit. The Ob

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ama administration's recent budget for NASA killed plans for the Ares rockets to replace the space shuttle, and instead refocused the U.S. space agency on more deep space exploration.

Readers curious about how the new space age might look can consult PopSci's January issue that covers the impending commercial space rush.

Source: www.popsci.gr

Spectacular Launch Begins a Complex Mission

"What a beautiful launch we had this morning... the orbiter performed extremely well," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, during the STS-130 postlaunch news conference. "This is a great start to a very complicated mission."

Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, thanked NASA, the crew and the ground teams for "a very beautiful launch." Dordain said, "It was an important event. Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."

Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager, said the count went unbelievably smooth. He commented how the weather constraints influenced the launch of space shuttle Endeavour and how happy he was that it all came together today. Docking is set for flight day three with three spacewalks planned to install the Tranquility node and then cupola permanently to the International Space Station. "This will be a good example of international partnerships and cooperation between the station crew and shuttle crew," said Moses.

"This was one of the smoothest countdowns ever," said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. "The team was very, very energized going into the count."
Liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour
After a one day delay due to clouds, space shuttle Endeavour launched at 4:14 a.m. EST Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a new module and an attached cupola for the International Space Station that should increase human understanding of our home planet. It was the last scheduled night launch in shuttle program history.

Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kay Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken began their 13-day mission with an eight and a half minute dash to orbit to begin the pursuit of the orbital outpost, lighting up the central Florida coast as Endeavour arced to the northeast en route to space.

When Endeavour lifted off, the station was traveling at almost five miles a second about 212 miles over western Romania. Endeavour is scheduled to dock with the station at 12:09 a.m. Wednesday over the northern coast of Spain.

Source: www.nasa.gov

Say Hello to Robonaut2, NASA's Android Space Explorer of the Future

With the news that the White House has caneled the Constellation Program, NASA seems to be moving out of the human space flight business. However, the unveiling of a next-generation robot astronaut shows the android space program to be alive and well.

Designed through a partnership with General Motors, the Robonaut2 is the cutting edge of android technology. Equipped with a wide array of sensors and dexterous five fingered hands, NASA plans for the Robotnaut2 to work along side humans in space operations, or by itself in missions too dangerous for people.

The Robonaut2 began life as, surprise surprise, a DARPA project almost ten years ago. The original Robonaut debuted in 2004, and sported a very Bobba Fett-like head. For the new model, NASA appears to have turned to the Power Rangers for design inspiration, with future models presumably looking more and more like Ian Holm or Lance Hendrickson.

No word yet on when NASA plans on deploying the Robonaut on an actual mission, or if its first job will be programing binary load lifters and moisture vaporators.

Source: www.popsci.com

Iran Launches Turtles Into Space, Plans Satellite Mission Soon

Boldly taking turtles where few turtles have gone before, Iran launched its satellite carrier Kavoshgar-3 rocket skyward earlier today as part of the Islamic Republic's National Day of Space and Technology. The rocket was sans satellite for the test firing, but crewing the 10-foot launch vehicle were two turtles, a mouse, and a dozen or so worms.

All right, the Soviets sent live tortoises into space a few times in the late '60s and '70s, including on a 1968 circumlunar flight that was the first to carry live animals into deep space. So this isn't the first time a member of the order Testudines has proven it has the Right Stuff. But by launching some of the smaller variety into space it appears Iran has achieved a "first," one of many the nation aims to notch in coming years.As part of Space and Technology Day, Iran also unveiled a new homegrown light booster rocket known as Simorgh that purportedly can carry a 220-pound satellite into orbit up 310 miles above the Earth. Three satellites were also revealed: Mesbah-2, Tolou and Navid-e-Elm-o-Sanat, the latter of which could benefit from a NASA-style acronym. But satellite launches aren't Iran's only aeronautical ambition; Iran wants to put a man into space before the decade is out, not because it is easy, but because frankly other nations are not leaping at the opportunity to aid Iran in its space ambitions.

Both Italy and Russia have declined to launch Iranian satellites in the past, and Western governments bristled at today's launch as advanced rocketry isn't something the United States and her allies like to see in the hands of a diplomatically hostile state -- one that may or may not be enriching weapons grade uranium. Iranian authorities did not disclose the nature of the research or the purpose of launching live animals aboard the craft, nor did they disclose the time and place of the launch. The military-green surface-to-air missile truck that paraded the Kavoshgar-3 around to dramatic music prior to lift-off likely didn't help Iran's image either.

But necessity is the mother of invention, they say, so we suppose it's good to see innovation coming out of any corner of Earth, as long as said innovation remains on a peaceful track. Though not usually compared to visionary leaders like JFK, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated publicly that he aims to send Iranian astronauts beyond earth orbit. Keep reaching for the stars.

Source: www.popsci.com

Carbon Crystals Harder Than Diamond Found In Finnish Meteorite

Diamond may remain the preferred material for wedding rings, Lil' Wayne's birthday gifts, and Damien Hirst sculptures, but it looks like girls' best friend will have to relinquish its title as the hardest natural substance known. The new title holder: mysterious carbon compounds found in a Finnish meteorite.

Writing in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Tristan Ferroir, a professor at the University of Lyon, France, reports that his team has discovered two new materials harder than the precious stone. Ferroir discovered the compounds when a diamond-coated sander failed to file down pockets of the compound nestled inside of the meteorite, which fell in 1971.

Ferrior has seen carbon nodules, fused by the heat of atmospheric entry, resist the diamond sander before, but only in one direction. These new minerals are the first ever to remain uniformly invulnerable from every direction.

Of the two minerals, one is a kind of diamond that had been predicted by scientists decades ago, but never observed in nature. The other is truly novel, having formed from fused sheets of graphite in a manner similar to the method used in the production of artificial diamonds.

Due to the small quantities of each mineral, Ferroir has been unable to test precisely how hard they really are. For now, all we can do is speculate about the limits of their hardness, and hope that they don't weaken Superman.

Source: www.popsci.com

NASA Budget: Constellation Officially Canned, But The Deep-Space Future Is Bright

Rumors circulated last week, but now it’s official: NASA won’t be sending manned missions back to the moon any time soon. But in what may seem like a gutting of NASA moon- and Mars-based ambitions there is a silver lining: a $6 billion investment in helping private industry bring their space launch vehicles up to human-rated capacity and a smattering of modest robotic precursor missions to the moon, Mars, Martian moons or the Lagrange points that should set the stage for later manned missions far beyond low-earth orbit.

However, the Constellation program – and the $9 billion already spent developing its Orion crew vehicle and Ares rockets – is decidedly dead.

In a press conference Sunday, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters the White House is recommending Constellation be scrapped, turning the run-of-the-mill duties of shuttling astronauts into low-earth orbit over to private companies and shifting NASA’s focus to “"advance robotics and other steps that will help to inspire Americans and not just return a man or a woman to the Moon but undertake the longer range research that could succeed in human spaceflight to Mars."

In a teleconference today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden outlined the budget’s goals, emphasizing that while Constellation is getting the axe, NASA’s deep space exploration ambitions have not been curtailed, nor are they being fiscally undercut. Rather, NASA is reprioritizing, seeking more or less a five-year period of intense study on possible means toward future manned missions to deep space before embarking on a mission to the moon or beyond. Between now and fiscal 2015, the agency plans to fully utilize the R&D capabilities of the ISS, demonstrate better deep space flight technologies and fly some unmanned missions around the near solar system to scout out the most scientifically interesting targets for future manned exploration.

Those precursory missions to the moon, Mars and nearby asteroids might entail more tele-operated robots like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars, as well as a robotic lunar lander or asteroid mission that demonstrates an ability to utilize resources from remote outposts in space. These will be substantially cheaper than manned missions, generally less than $800 million each. But the thrilling prospect of a manned mission back to the lunar surface within the decade as envisioned in Constellation is more or less out of the question.

Highlights from the proposed NASA budget:

• $6 billion over five years to catalyze development of American commercial human spaceflight vehicles.
• $7.8 billion over five years for technology demonstration programs for future exploration activities. These might include technologies aimed at rendezvous and docking in orbit, refueling vessels in space, advanced life support systems for astronauts and other developments that will facilitate future missions beyond low-earth orbit.
• $3.1 billion over five years for aggressive research into heavy-lift rocket engines (but not the Ares-V), new propellants, and innovative ways of reaching deep space.
• $4.9 billion over five years for investment in early-stage and game-changing technologies incubating in the private sector. These could include innovations in sensor tech, robotics, launch vehicles, communications, etc., and will likely be funded through X-Prize-like performance-based grants that reward private sector space companies that can hit certain benchmarks quickly.
• $3 billion over five years to fund a string of cost-effective exploratory unmanned missions to the moon, near-earth asteroids and even Mars, scouting future manned exploratory targets.

Source: www.popsci.com

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Scientists Cook Up Saturn Moon Cocktail on Earth

The recent discovery of lakes on Saturn's moon Titan make it the only other object in the solar system known to have liquid on its surface. However, dipping 179°C (290°F) below freezing, these lakes are definitely not filled with water.

"The water is frozen so solid on Titan that you can liken it to silicate rocks on Earth," says Vincent Chevrier of the University of Arkansas.

The liquid on Titan is likely a hydrocarbon cocktail of mostly methane and ethane, judging from observations by the Cassini-Huygens space probe. The exact proportions are uncertain because scientists have little data on how these substances behave at such low temperatures.

"There was never before much interest in the liquid and solid properties of methane and ethane, since they are normally gases on Earth's surface," Chevrier says.

But that's all changed. Titan's "liquid assets" drive geologic and chemical processes that may mimic those on our planet. To better understand this, Chevrier and his colleagues have received NASA funding to recreate Titan's surface in a lab.

Lake country

Thanks to radar maps taken by Cassini, we know that the polar regions of Titan are dotted with numerous lakes. Some of these are as large as the Great Lakes in the U.S.

Scientists are not sure where these large bodies of hydrocarbons come from. One possibility is that methane rain and possibly ethane snow drive a "hydrological cycle" that eventually drains into these lakes.

Alternatively, Titan may have large reservoirs of liquid underground, and the lakes are the result of impact craters carving deep enough to expose this sub-surface ocean.

It has been difficult to rule out any of these hypotheses in part because the process of evaporation from the hydrocarbon lakes in Titan's environment is poorly understood. If researchers knew how fast the lakes were disappearing, they would have a better sense of what makes them appear.

"The rates of exchange of hydrocarbons over seasonal and potentially longer climate cycles on Titan is an important goal of current research," says Oded Aharonson of the California Institute of Technology, who is not involved with this new project.

Mini-lakes

For their part, Chevrier's team will be measuring the evaporation rates of methane and ethane in a Titan simulation chamber. To mimic the moon's atmosphere, the 2-meter-high steel cylinder will hold ultra-cold nitrogen gas at a pressure about 50% higher than on Earth.

Chevrier's group will introduce small quantities of methane and/or ethane into the chamber. Below about 95 Kelvin (or –178 degrees Celsius), the hydrocarbon gas will condense into roughly 1 centimeter deep "mini-lakes" at the bottom of the cylinder. The researchers will then raise the temperature slightly and record the rate of evaporation.

It is assumed that ethane (whose molecules are heavier than methane's) will have a much slower evaporation rate, but by how much is unknown. It's even less clear what happens when methane and ethane are mixed together, along with nitrogen gas dissolving in from the atmosphere above.

"It is highly likely that the lakes are in fact complex mixtures of ethane, methane and nitrogen," Chevrier says. "We will study the behavior of pure compounds first and then shift to mixtures."

The team also plans to look at the possibility of other organic compounds mixing in with the Titan broth and perhaps slowing the evaporation.

Earth analog

Determining the evaporation rates on Titan will not only help sort out the geologic processes that formed the lakes, it will also provide some needed information about the atmospheric chemistry.

Titan is the only moon in our solar system with a substantial atmosphere. The moon's surface is totally obscured by an orange haze made up of complex organics (called tholins), which form when methane is destroyed by ultraviolet light from the Sun.

This same sort of organic chemistry may have gotten the biological ball rolling on Earth billions of years ago.

"Titan shows how you can have organic reactions without life," Chevrier says. Such organic chemical reactions may have provided the first necessary steps towards the origin of life on Earth.

On Titan, because the methane-fueled organic reactions in the atmosphere end up destroying the methane molecules, to keep the reactions operating a constant source of gaseous methane is needed. The evaporation of methane from Titan's lakes may be one such source, and Chevrier's data should help say whether it is enough.

"Titan's surface is rich with geological features similar to those found on Earth but based on different materials," says Christophe Sotin from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. "So any lab experiment that can reproduce conditions on Titan and give some pieces of information of the processes that can happen on this moon are important."

Source: www.space.com