SPACE - random thread about space stuff

[Daehawk]

Felt the need for a space random.

James Webb Space Telescope . The JWST or "Son of Hubble" is set to peer back into the dawn of time.

[dbt1949]

Oh, I thought we were going to talk about the stuff between my stepson's ears.

[Jeff V]

Oh, I thought we were going to talk about the stuff between my stepson's ears.

Billions and billions of miles of nothingness.

[xwraith]

X-Wing in space (No, really)

[killbot737]

New Horizons is just a few months away from Pluto! Beware the sentient fungi!

[rshetts2]

Hubble Space Telescope fly-through of the Gum Nebula


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b_im-fuVUA

[Daehawk]

Vplcanos from space

Should we arm the ISS with lasers?

[Kraken]

NASA may have accidentally invented a warp drive.

This has been reported before and was probably even linked in a different thread, but IFL's summary is short and easy to understand.

[AWS260]

NASA may have accidentally invented a warp drive.

This has been reported before and was probably even linked in a different thread, but IFL's summary is short and easy to understand.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and speculate that no, they didn't. Mainly because physics, but also because IFL Science is not always good at, y'know, science.

[Kraken]

NASA may have accidentally invented a warp drive.

This has been reported before and was probably even linked in a different thread, but IFL's summary is short and easy to understand.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and speculate that no, they didn't. Mainly because physics, but also because IFL Science is not always good at, y'know, science.

I've seen similar reports from a couple of other pop science sources, possibly just repeating and amplifying one another. The gist is that NASA might be getting ready to announce warp bubbles, but for now they're busy making sure because we all remember how cold fusion and FTL neutrons turned out.

Still, it's in play on some level. Sure would be cool if the physics turn out to be valid.

[Isgrimnur]

FTL neutrons

Neutrinos.

[AWS260]

Messenger is in her final days.

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft, in orbit around Mercury the past four years, will come to an abrupt end on Thursday.

Messenger’s path will intersect with the surface of the planet. The impact of the 1,100-pound spacecraft at 8,750 miles per hour is expected to gouge a crater some 50 feet wide.

See you later, Pahinui Crater.

[LawBeefaroni]

FTL neutrons

Neutrinos.

Did you know that neutrinos from a supernova (SN1987A) get to the Earth before the light does? Just learned that last night. But they're still not FTL. Crafty devils.


Also, here's the Sombrero Galaxy:


This image of the Sombrero Galaxy is a mosaic of six images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in May and June 2003 (exposition time: 10.2 hours).

The famous Sombrero galaxy (M104) is a bright nearby spiral galaxy. The prominent dust lane and halo of stars and globular clusters give this galaxy its name. Something very energetic is going on in the Sombrero's center, as much X-ray light has been detected from it. This X-ray emission coupled with unusually high central stellar velocities cause many astronomers to speculate that a black hole lies at the Sombrero's center - a black hole a billion times the mass of our Sun.

[Isgrimnur]

FTL neutrons

Neutrinos.

Did you know that neutrinos from a supernova (SN1987A) get to the Earth before the light does? Just learned that last night. But they're still not FTL. Crafty devils.

And we have SNEWS.

The SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS) is a network of neutrino detectors designed to give early warning to astronomers in the event of a supernova in our home galaxy or a nearby galaxy such as the Large Magellanic Cloud or the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy. Enormous numbers of neutrinos are produced in the core of a red giant star as it collapses on itself. In the current model the neutrinos are emitted well before the light from the supernova peaks, so in principle neutrino detectors could give advance warning to astronomers that a supernova has occurred and may soon be visible. The neutrino pulse from supernova 1987A arrived 3 hours before the associated photons – but SNEWS was not yet active and it was not recognised as a supernova event until after the photons arrived.

[raydude]

Messenger is in her final days.

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft, in orbit around Mercury the past four years, will come to an abrupt end on Thursday.

Messenger’s path will intersect with the surface of the planet. The impact of the 1,100-pound spacecraft at 8,750 miles per hour is expected to gouge a crater some 50 feet wide.

See you later, Pahinui Crater.

Yeah, the science team and all the operations folks are sad to see it end, as am I. Here at the Applied Physics Lab they've proclaimed tomorrow as MESSENGER day to celebrate the end of the mission.

[Isgrimnur]

Don't you hate it when your grocery cart gets away from you?

An unmanned Russian spacecraft loaded with supplies for the International Space Station is spinning out of control and is expected to plunge into the Earth's atmosphere next week, the Russian space agency said Wednesday, according to the local media.

The Progress spacecraft, carrying food, fuel, oxygen and scientific equipment, was launched on Tuesday but ran into immediate trouble, ending up in the wrong orbit in an uncontrolled spin, the TASS news agency reports.

The space agency failed repeatedly in attempts to communicate with the Progress.

Without radio control from the ground, the space agency could neither be put into proper orbit, 257 miles above the Earth, nor stop it spinning.
...
Roscosmos said the craft is expected to drop out of orbit and plunge into the atmosphere between May 5 and 7, Tass said, quoting the space agency's press service.

Only a small amount of debris is likely to hit the Earth after the craft largely burns up.

[Pyperkub]

Take us to Warp Speed, Mr. Scott:

Therefore, the discovery that laser beams may have just breached the speed of light sent the page into discussions on the long-term implications of warp speed bubbles and the possibly of future warp speed travel.

First, the researchers note that though beams that were shot into the EmDrive were recorded at speeds faster than light, there is still one more study that must be performed to determine with certainty that the light speed barrier was broken. Scientists note that the beams must be shot through the EmDrive in a vacuum environment. This will ensure that the effect was not a result of atmospheric heating.

“I don’t think we can call this length contraction (even though it might look like it) for sure until the same results are in repeated in vacuum.”

Commenters note that the whole finding was one big accident and that researchers did not even realize that the EmDrive was replicating a well-known physicist’s theory of warp bubbles.

“That’s the big surprise. This signature (the interference pattern) on the EmDrive looks just like what a warp bubble looks like. And the math behind the warp bubble apparently matches the interference pattern found in the EmDrive. Seems to have been an accidental connection. They were wondering where this ‘thrust’ might be coming from. One scientists proposed that maybe it’s a warp of the spacetime foam, which is causing the thrust.”

[LawBeefaroni]

Take us to Warp Speed, Mr. Scott:

Therefore, the discovery that laser beams may have just breached the speed of light sent the page into discussions on the long-term implications of warp speed bubbles and the possibly of future warp speed travel.

First, the researchers note that though beams that were shot into the EmDrive were recorded at speeds faster than light, there is still one more study that must be performed to determine with certainty that the light speed barrier was broken. Scientists note that the beams must be shot through the EmDrive in a vacuum environment. This will ensure that the effect was not a result of atmospheric heating.

“I don’t think we can call this length contraction (even though it might look like it) for sure until the same results are in repeated in vacuum.”

Commenters note that the whole finding was one big accident and that researchers did not even realize that the EmDrive was replicating a well-known physicist’s theory of warp bubbles.

“That’s the big surprise. This signature (the interference pattern) on the EmDrive looks just like what a warp bubble looks like. And the math behind the warp bubble apparently matches the interference pattern found in the EmDrive. Seems to have been an accidental connection. They were wondering where this ‘thrust’ might be coming from. One scientists proposed that maybe it’s a warp of the spacetime foam, which is causing the thrust.”

The EmDrive is a reactionless drive and very fringe, IIRC. This claim is like someone claiming that their perpetual motion machine accidentally allowed time travel. I'm calling bunk.

[Pyperkub]

There's definitely an element of Cold Fusion to it, but NASA has more info up here:

A group at NASA’s Johnson Space Center has successfully tested an electromagnetic (EM) propulsion drive in a vacuum – a major breakthrough for a multi-year international effort comprising several competing research teams. Thrust measurements of the EM Drive defy classical physics’ expectations that such a closed (microwave) cavity should be unusable for space propulsion because of the law of conservation of momentum...

...The scientific community met these NASA tests with skepticism and a number of physicists proposed that the measured thrust force in the US, UK, and China tests was more likely due to (external to the EM Drive cavity) natural thermal convection currents arising from microwave heating (internal to the EM Drive cavity).

However, Paul March, an engineer at NASA Eagleworks, recently reported in NASASpaceFlight.com’s forum (on a thread now over 500,000 views) that NASA has successfully tested their EM Drive in a hard vacuum – the first time any organization has reported such a successful test.

[AWS260]

There's definitely an element of Cold Fusion to it, but NASA has more info up here:

Note that NASAspaceflight.com is not affiliated with NASA, and their report is based primarily on a single NASA researcher posting on their forum.

I think it's great that this idea is being studied by NASA and discussed by enthusiasts, but the media coverage has been disappointingly credulous.

[Kraken]

If you were abducted by aliens and managed to take over their ship, could you find your way home again? Know your stellar neighborhood! Your safety might depend on it someday.

It's centered on the Sun. I recommend zooming all the way in and then slowly backing out.

[Daehawk]

Been seeing something bright in the westernish sky. Maybe I can figure out what it is.

[Kraken]

Sunsets on Mars are blue due to dust scattering the light.

[AWS260]

New Horizons can now see all four known moons of the Pluto-Charon binary system.

[Daehawk]

Asteroid due to pass by Earth this Thursday

NASA has plotted its path for the next 3000 years too.

[Isgrimnur]

Quadruple quasars

Astronomers at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii are scratching their heads after finding a group of four quasars, a gathering that current cosmological thinking rates as a ten million-to-one chance of occurring.

"If you discover something which, according to current scientific wisdom should be extremely improbable, you can come to one of two conclusions: either you just got very lucky, or you need to modify your theory," said Joseph Hennawi of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. "Extremely rare events have the power to overturn long-standing theories."

Quasi-stellar-objects, or quasars, are thought to be extremely rare phenomena that occur when enough matter falls into the accretion disc around a supermassive black hole to generate enormous energy.

The four newly discovered quasars were spotted around 10 billion light years away in a giant nebula of cool dense hydrogen gas that has been irradiated by its quartet of high-energy inhabitants. The whole group is part of an unusually large galactic cluster that caught astronomers' attention.
...
One possible explanation is that the quasars formed when two galaxies collided a few billion years after the Big Bang. It's thought that the resultant matter could fuel black holes and lead to the quasar signals, but more research is needed.

[Isgrimnur]

Lo siento/Мне жаль

A Russian rocket carrying a Mexican satellite has malfunctioned and burnt up over Siberia soon after launch on Saturday, Russia's space agency says.

The Proton-M carrier rocket broke down minutes after it was launched from Kazakhstan on Saturday morning, the Roscosmos agency said.

[Daehawk]

Some more on those birght spots on Ceres.

[LawBeefaroni]

Lo siento/Мне жаль

A Russian rocket carrying a Mexican satellite has malfunctioned and burnt up over Siberia soon after launch on Saturday, Russia's space agency says.

The Proton-M carrier rocket broke down minutes after it was launched from Kazakhstan on Saturday morning, the Roscosmos agency said.

"There has been a malfunction on board the booster rocket. This broadcast is now over," the presenter said.

...

Space industry sources say that the Mexican satellite has not been found and launches of Proton-type rockets will be grounded until the reason for the malfunction is established.

By pure coincidence, Viktor Vekselberg has a new satellite. Pure coincidence.

[Jaymann]

That's one bright galaxy!

[Jaymann]

No warp drive for chu. But something strange is happening.

[AWS260]

The Planetary Society's solar sail mini-satellite has a serious software issue.

Late Friday, the LightSail team received a heads-up warning them of the vulnerability. A fix was quickly devised to prevent the spacecraft from crashing, and it was scheduled to be uploaded during the next ground station pass. But before that happened, LightSail’s automated chirps fell silent. The last data packet received from the spacecraft was May 22 at 21:31 UTC (5:31 p.m. EDT).

It's not responding to reboot commands, so their best hope is that a random charged particle will cause a spontaneous hard reboot, which is apparently relatively common.

[Kraken]

"Stunning" NASA video of Soyuz docking at the ISS. A half hour of nothing happening very slowly won't be for everyone, but it does convey a strong you-are-there feeling from the Soyuz POV. I'd change "stunning" to "mesmerizing" and beautiful.

Nothing visual happens after target acquisition so spare yourself the last 8 minutes.

[Lassr]

Article about the Urine Processor and one of the engineers in my lab.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015052 ... ed-problem

[AWS260]

NASA's new, massive parachute for entering the Martian atmosphere failed during today's test. Video (lousy cellphone video, but it's the only one I can find right now). The rest of the re-entry vehicle seems to have worked fine, but the parachute is kind of an important element.

[Daehawk]

I wasn't sure to post this here or in the silly pics thread...eh here.

[Max Peck]

Philae comet lander wakes up, says European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth. Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November. It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat. The comet has since moved nearer to the Sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos. An account linked to the probe tweeted the message, "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?" On its blog, Esa said Philae had contacted Earth, via Rosetta, for 85 seconds on Saturday in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.

[Daehawk]

Lol thats cute and cool.

[stessier]

With New Horizons destined to meet Pluto on July 14, I've been doing some background reading and finally found someone who would be envious of Smoove's internet connection!

Communication with the spacecraft is via X band. The craft had a communication rate of 38 kbit/s at Jupiter; at Pluto's distance, a rate of approximately 1 kbit/s is expected. Besides the low bandwidth, Pluto's distance also causes a (one-way) latency of about 4.5 hours.

[Unagi]

How does the distance only cause a one-way latency? That makes about zero sense to me.