NASA's Kennedy Spaceport Magazine: October 2018

NASA's Kennedy Spaceport Magazine: October 2018
Read KSC's October 2018 Spaceport Magazine (Free 16-Page PDF)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/spaceport-magazine.html
Direct Download:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/spm_october2018_web.pdf
In the October 2018 issue:
· ICESat-2 launches on final flight of Delta II rocket

· Commercial Crew flights draw nearer

· NASA: 60 Years and Counting

· Kennedy team puts space sensor to use on ground

· Innovators' Launchpad: Michael Hogue

· Mobile launcher on the move to Vehicle Assembly Building

· Students turn NASA robotic experience to high altitude technology

· Apollo 7 launches as race to Moon reached final stretch

Spaceport Magazine is a monthly NASA publication that serves Kennedy Space Center employees and the American public. The magazine’s wide topic variety mirrors Kennedy's diverse spaceport operations. From launch processing to center development and employee stories, Spaceport Magazine covers it all.

Credit: NASA/Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Release Date: October 12, 2018

#NASA #KSC #Space #Science #Astronomy #Earth #ICESat2 #DeltaII #Rocket #ULA #SLS #Orion #EM1 #MobileLauncher #ISS #CommercialCrew #Mars #Moon #Astronauts #NASA60 #Kennedy #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Magazine #PDF #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center | Week of Oct. 12, 2018

Kennedy Space Center’s scenic location on central Florida’s east coast is perfect for launching rockets, but beach erosion is a concern—especially during hurricane season. That’s why NASA is managing a project to revitalize the shoreline with beach-quality sand, building up the dune that helps to protect vital spaceport infrastructure.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Duration: 1 minute, 19 seconds
Release Date: October 12, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #NASA60th #Beach #Erosion #Hurricanes #Environment #SLS #Rockets #Launch #Orion #Spacecraft #EM1 #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #CapeCanaveral #AirForce #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Soyuz ISS Crew Lands Safely After Launch Anomaly This Week @NASA

Week of Oct. 12, 2018: Soyuz crew is safe following a launch anomaly, another major hurricane seen from space, and testing continues for the rocket engine that will power us to deep space . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 6 seconds
Release Date: October 12, 2018

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #HurricaneMichael #Weather #Soyuz #Rocket #Astronaut #Cosmonaut #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #Kazakhstan #Expedition57 #Human #Spaceflight #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hurricane Michael Makes Landfall | NOAA

Oct. 10, 2018: Early Wednesday afternoon, powerful Hurricane Michael made landfall along the Florida Panhandle as a record-setting Category 4 storm. The National Hurricane Center reported Michael's sustained winds were near 155 mph as the eye of the storm moved ashore near Mexico City, Florida at 1:30 p.m. ET October 10. According to NOAA's historical hurricane tracks database, Michael is the first Category 4 storm to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle since records began in 1851.

This GOES East satellite imagery shows Hurricane Michael just as the storm made landfall at 1:30 p.m. ET October 10.

Michael is expected to drop heavy rains across the Florida Panhandle, southeast Alabama and portions of southwest and central Georgia, with widespread totals of 4 to 8 inches expected. As the storm moves inland through the southeastern U.S., the storm will produce 3 to 6 inches of rain across northern Georgia, the Carolinas and southern Virginia.

This geocolor-enhanced imagery was created by NOAA's partners at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. The GOES East geostationary satellite, also known as GOES-16, provides coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Pacific. The satellite's high-resolution imagery provides optimal viewing of severe weather events, including thunderstorms, tropical storms and hurricanes.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/CIRA
Release Date: October 10, 2018
#NASA #NOAA #Space #Satellite #Science #Earth #HurricaneMichael #Hurricane #Category4 #Storm #Gulf #Mexico #Florida #Panhandle #MexicoCity #Weather #Meteorology #GOESEast #CIRA #Geocolor #Goddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch: SAOCOM 1A Mission

Liftoff is at the 17 minute mark.
The October 7, 2018 Falcon 9 rocket Block 5 launch was of a synthetic aperture radar remote sensing satellite, SAOCOM 1A, for Argentina’s space agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB).

SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 rocket back at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California for the first time. While the company’s launches and landings on the East Coast have become almost routine, this is the first time it attempted a landing at its Landing Zone 4 at VAFB.

Credit: SpaceX
Duration: 32 minutes
Release Date: October 7, 2018

#SpaceX #Space #Satellite #Earth #Rocket #Launch #SAOCOM1A #Argentina #CONAE #Falcon9 #Block5 #Commercial #Vandenberg #AirForce #VAFB #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hurricane Michael in Gulf of Mexico | NOAA

Oct. 9, 2018: Hurricane Michael, seen here by NOAA's GOES East weather satellite, is strengthening as it moves over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The center of the Category 2 storm is expected to move inland over the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, October 10, 2018. Maximum sustained winds: 85 knots; 100 mph

GeoColor is a multispectral product composed of True Color (using a simulated green component) during the daytime, and an Infrared product that uses bands 7 and 13 at night. During the day, the imagery looks approximately as it would appear when viewed with human eyes from space.

Geocolor was developed at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and STAR's Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB).

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/CIRA
Image Date: October 9, 2018

#NASA #NOAA #Space #Satellite #Science #Earth #HurricaneMichael #Hurricane #Storm #Gulf #Mexico #Florida #Weather #Meteorology #GOESEast #CIRA #Geocolor #Goddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

An Orbital Sunrise | International Space Station

European Space Agency Astronaut Alexander Gerst: "I don't know any words, in any language, to match the beauty of an orbital sunrise."

"Eines Sonnenaufgangs im Orbit"
"Ich kenne kein Wort, in keiner Sprache, das die Schönheit eines Sonnenaufgangs im Orbit auch nur ansatzweise beschreiben könnte."

Credit: ESA/NASA-A.Gerst
Image Date: September 14, 2018

#NASA #ESA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Sun #Sunrise #Orbital #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #Astronaut #AlexanderGerst #Horizons #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #DLR #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

NASA's Space to Ground: Hello, Goodbye | Week of Oct 5, 2018

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Three crew members who have been living and working aboard the International Space Station have landed safely in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA, along with Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed at 7:44 a.m. EDT (5:44 p.m. in Kazakhstan) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

The crew completed hundreds of experiments during its 197-day expedition. Highlights included an investigation to study ultra-cold quantum gases using the first commercial European facility for microgravity research, and a system that uses surface forces to accomplish liquid-liquid separation.

Expedition 57 continues station research and operations with a crew comprised of Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos. Gerst assumed command of the station as Feustel prepared to depart.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are scheduled to launch Oct. 11 for a same-day arrival, increasing the crew size to five.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov/station.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem_on_station/index.html

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 40 seconds
Release Date: October 5, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Soyuz #SoyuzMS08 #Союз #Landing #Kazakhstan #Astronauts #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Russia #Россия #Astronauts #Expedition56 #Expedition57 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Rings upon rings | Hubble

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a spiral galaxy named Messier 95 (also known as M95 or NGC 3351). Located about 35 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion), this swirling spiral was discovered by astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1781, and cataloged by French astronomer Charles Messier just four days later. Messier was primarily a comet hunter, and was often left frustrated by objects in the sky that resembled comets but turned out not to be. To help other astronomers avoid confusing these objects in the future, he created his famous catalog of Messier objects.

Most definitely not a comet, Messier 95 is actually a barred spiral galaxy. The galaxy has a bar cutting through its center, surrounded by an inner ring currently forming new stars. Also our own Milky Way is a barred spiral.

As well as hosting this stellar nursery, Messier 95 is a known host of the dramatic and explosive final stages in the lives of massive stars: supernovae. In March 2016 a spectacular supernova named SN 2012aw was observed in the outer regions of one of Messier 95’s spiral arms. Once the light from the supernova had faded, astronomers were able to compare observations of the region before and after the explosion to find out which star had “disappeared”— the progenitor star. In this case, the star was an especially huge red supergiant up to 26 times more massive than the Sun.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date: October 8, 2018

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Messier95 #M95 #NGC3351 #Spiral #Barred #Leo #SN2012aw #Supernova #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Sixty Years of NASA and Counting, on This Week @NASA

NASA's 60th Anniversary (1958-2018)

Week of October 5, 2018: Celebrating sixty years of NASA, space station crew makes a safe return to Earth, and evidence of a possible discovery outside our solar system . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 38 seconds
Release Date: October 5, 2018
#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #Moon #Mars #SolarSystem #Astronomy #History #NASA60 #Anniversary #President #Eisenhower #Government #UnitedStates #Civilian #Agency #Research #Exploration #Aerospace #Aeronautics #Aviation #Astronauts #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Glory Days | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Drew Feustel: "I have had my 'glory days in the hot sun' and now it’s time to come home. Thank you everybody for following along on Expedition 56’s journey living on the International Space Station. I hope you continue to follow NASA as we explore the great depths of space for the benefit of humanity."

Credit: A.J. (Drew) Feustel/NASA/JSC
Release Date: October 4, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Humanity #Astronaut #DrewFeustel #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Hubble finds strong evidence of a moon outside Solar System

Neptune-sized moon orbits Jupiter-sized planet
Artist’s impression of exomoon candidate Kepler-1625b-i
October 3, 2018: Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and older data from the Kepler Space Telescope two astronomers have found the first compelling evidence for a moon outside our own Solar System. The data indicate an exomoon the size of Neptune, in a stellar system 8000 light-years from Earth. The new results are presented in the journal Science Advances.

The hunt for exoplanets—planets outside our own Solar System—provided its first results only 30 years ago. While astronomers now find these planets on a regular basis, the search for moons orbiting exoplanets wasn’t successful—until today.

In 2017 NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope detected hints of an exomoon orbiting the planet Kepler-1625b. Now, two scientists from Columbia University in New York (USA) have used the incomparable capabilities of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study the star Kepler-1625, 8000 light-years away, and its planet in more detail. The new observations made with Hubble show compelling evidence for a large exomoon orbiting the only known planet of Kepler-1625. If confirmed, this would be the first discovery of a moon outside our Solar System.

The candidate moon, with the designation Kepler-1625b-i, is unusual because of its large size; it is comparable in diameter to the planet Neptune. Such gargantuan moons are unknown in our own Solar System. “This may yield new insights into the development of planetary systems and may cause astronomers to revisit theories of how moons form,” Alex Teachey, a graduate student who led the study, explained excitedly [1].

Like its moon, Kepler-1625b is also bigger than its counterparts in the Solar System. The exoplanet is a gas giant, several times more massive than Jupiter [2]. It orbits its parent star at a distance similar to the distance between the Sun and Earth, which puts it—and its candidate moon—at the inner edge of the habitable zone of the star system [3].

To find evidence for the existence of the exomoon, the team observed the planet while it was in transit in front of its parent star, causing a dimming of the starlight. “We saw little deviations and wobbles in the light curve that caught our attention,” David Kipping, second author of the study, said.

The planet was observed by Hubble before and during its 19-hour-long transit. After the transit ended, Hubble detected a second and much smaller decrease in the star’s brightness approximately 3.5 hours later, consistent with the effect of a moon trailing the planet. “It was definitely a shocking moment to see that light curve—my heart started beating a little faster and I just kept looking at that signature,” David Kipping described his feelings. Unfortunately, the scheduled Hubble observations ended before the complete transit of the moon could be captured.

In addition to this second dip in the light curve, Hubble provided compelling supporting evidence for the moon hypothesis by detecting the planet’s transit more than an hour earlier than predicted. This is consistent with a model of the system in which the planet and its moon orbit a common center of gravity, causing the planet to wobble away from its predicted location [4].

In principle this anomaly could also be caused by the gravitational pull of a hypothetical second planet in the system, but the Kepler Space Telescope found no evidence for additional planets around the star during its four year mission. Still, further observations by Hubble are needed to fully confirm the existence of Kepler-1625b-i.

“If confirmed, Kepler-1625b-i will certainly provide an interesting puzzle for theorists to solve,” said Kipping. Teachey concluded: “It is an exciting reminder of how little we really know about distant planetary systems and the great spirit of discovery exoplanetary science embodies.”

Notes
[1] The moons of Jupiter and Saturn likely formed through the agglomeration into a disc of material orbiting the planets, so it is possible that this exomoon also formed in a circumplanetary disc. Another possibility is that a passing object was captured by the planet’s gravity. Tidal forces between the two objects would rob momentum from the less massive companion and eventually pull it into a permanent orbit. There are no indications of tidal capture among our Solar System’s moons. In the case of the Earth–Moon system, an early collision with a larger body is hypothesised to have blasted off material that later coalesced into a moon. However, Kepler-1625b and its candidate moon are gaseous, not rocky, so such a collision would not have led to the condensation of a satellite.

[2] Despite its size, the mass of the candidate moon is estimated to be only 1.5 percent of the mass of its companion planet. This value is close to the mass ratio between Earth and the Moon.

[3] While both the planet and its candidate moon are within the habitable zone, where moderate temperatures allow for the existence of liquid water, both bodies are considered to be gaseous and therefore unsuitable for life as we know it.

[4] A distant observer watching the Earth and Moon transit the Sun would note similar anomalies in the timing of Earth’s transit.

More information
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The results were presented in the paper Evidence for a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b in the journal Science Advances.

The team of astronomers in this study consists of Alex Teachey and David M. Kipping (Columbia University, New York, USA).

Image Credit: NASA, ESA
Release Date: October 3, 2018

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Moon #Exomoon #Kepler1625bi #Planet #Exoplanet #Kepler1625 #Star #Transit #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #STScI #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education

MASCOT Asteroid Lander on Japan's Hayabusa2 | DLR

Animation | On December 3, 2014, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 embarked on a sample return mission to asteroid (162173) Ryugu (formerly designated 1999 JU3). On board is the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT), a lander built by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt; DLR) in collaboration with the French space agency CNES. The aim of the Hayabusa2 mission is to learn more about the origin and evolution of the Solar System. As asteroids account for some of the most primordial celestial bodies, researching them gives us a glimpse into our cosmic past. Furthermore, Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid, which means it could pose a threat to Earth and must be investigated in order to reduce this threat.

Credit: German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt; DLR)
Duration: 7 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: May 16, 2018

#JAXA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Asteroid #162173Ryugu #Ryugu #竜宮城 #NEO #Mascot #Lander #AsteroidLanding #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Hayabusa2 #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #Japan #日本 #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Mascot Asteroid Landing Successful | DLR/JAXA

"Hello Earth...I promised to send you some pictures of Ryugu so here’s a shot I took during my descent. Can you spot my shadow?"
The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) has landed on asteroid Ryugu.
Hayabusa2 is a Japanese space agency (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; JAXA) mission to the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu. The German-French lander MASCOT on board Hayabusa2 was developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and built in close cooperation with the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales). DLR, the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale and the Technical University of Braunschweig have contributed the scientific experiments on board MASCOT. The MASCOT lander and its experiments are operated and controlled by DLR with support from CNES and in constant interaction with the Hayabusa2 team.

The DLR Institute of Space Systems in Bremen was responsible for developing and testing the lander together with CNES. The DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems in Braunschweig was responsible for the stable structure of the lander. The DLR Robotics and Mechatronics Center in Oberpfaffenhofen developed the swing arm that allows MASCOT to hop on the asteroid. Das DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin contributed the MasCam camera and the MARA radiometer. The asteroid lander is monitored and operated from the MASCOT Control Center in the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC) at the DLR site in Cologne.

162173 Ryugu, provisional designation 1999 JU3, is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cg, with qualities of both a C-type asteroid and a G-type asteroid.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Ryugu orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.96–1.41 AU once every 16 months (474 days; semi-major axis of 1.19 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. It has a minimum orbital intersection distance with Earth of 95,400 km (0.000638 AU), which translates into 0.23 lunar distance. (Source: Wikipedia)

The name refers to Ryūgū (Dragon Palace), a magical underwater palace in a Japanese folktale. In the story, the fisherman Urashima Tarō travels to the palace on the back of a turtle, and when he returns, he carries with him a mysterious box, much like Hayabusa2 returning with samples.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Image Date: October 3, 2018

#JAXA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Asteroid #162173Ryugu #Ryugu #竜宮城 #NEO #Mascot #Lander #AsteroidLanding #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Hayabusa2 #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #Japan #日本 #STEM #Education

Explore Mars: Hebes Chasma | NASA MRO

Hebes Chasma is an isolated chasma just north of the Valles Marineris canyon system of Mars.

In planetary geology, a chasma is a deep, elongated, steep-sided depression. (Source: Wikipedia)

Imagery captured 267 km above the planet's surface (less than 1 km top to bottom and north is to the right)

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Duration: 3 minutes, 32 seconds
Release Date: October 1, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #HebesChasma #Chasma #VallesMarineris #Canyon #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #RedPlanet #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #University #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #4K #UHD #Video

Mars: Eastern Hebes Chasma | NASA MRO

Hebes Chasma is an isolated chasma just north of the Valles Marineris canyon system of Mars.

In planetary geology, a chasma is a deep, elongated, steep-sided depression. (Source: Wikipedia)

Image captured 267 km above the planet's surface (less than 1 km top to bottom and north is to the right)

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Release Date: October 1, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #HebesChasma #Chasma #VallesMarineris #Canyon #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #RedPlanet #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #University #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education