Category: Space Exploration

NASA Has Released Apollo 11 Mission Audio

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date August 2, 2018
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Buzz Aldrin on the Moon (cropped) — Moon Landing: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, stands on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module, Eagle, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module to explore the Sea of Tranquility, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit with the Command and Service Module, Columbia.
This is the actual photograph as exposed on the moon by Armstrong. He held the camera slightly rotated so that the camera frame did not include the top of Aldrin's portable life support system ("backpack").
A communications antenna mounted on top of the backpack is also cut off in this picture. When the image was released to the public, it was rotated clockwise to restore the astronaut to vertical for a more harmonious composition, and a black area was added above his head to recreate the missing black lunar "sky" (Related: Why there are no stars in space photos?). The edited version is the one most commonly reproduced and known to the public, but the original version, above, is the authentic exposure. This image was cataloged by NASA Headquarters of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: AS11-40-5903. Image: Wikipedia

NASA has just published Two Years’ Worth of Apollo 11 Mission Audio (the first crewed moon landing mission) on their website “Explore Apollo“. That’s more than 19,000 hours of audio.

So now anyone can hear the endless hours of conversations between the Apollo 11 astronauts and Houston. Some recordings are really exciting, for example, the audio of the lunar module landing. When the lunar module enters the lunar orbit some interesting, tensed, and nail-biting technical challenges are encountered and are solved.

Physics Space Exploration

The coldest place in the Universe is now on the ISS

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 30, 2018
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As soon as NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) began producing ultra-cold atoms, the International Space Station (ISS) became the coldest place in the known universe. The formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, the fifth state of matter occurred in NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) at a temperature of 130 nanoKelvin or less than 10 billionths of a degree above Absolute Zero. Absolute zero, or zero Kelvin, is equal to minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 273 Celsius. Previously, the record-cold was achieved in Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle’s laboratory at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): half-a-billionth of a degree above absolute zero.

Space Exploration

No, NASA did not spend millions to develop a space pen, while the Soviet cosmonauts were using pencils [Urban legend explained]

Astronaut using space pen — NASA astronaut Rex Walheim, STS-135 mission specialist, is pictured on the flight deck of the space shuttle Atlantis during the mission's fourth day of activities in Earth orbit and second day while being docked with the International Space Station. Image: NASA

Here’s the story: during the 1960s as NASA was sending the first astronauts to space, they realized that pens don’t work in zero gravity (or actually microgravity), so they spent years and many millions of taxpayer dollars to develop a “space pen”, which means a pen that can write in the microgravity. Meanwhile, the Soviet cosmonauts simply used pencils.

As Curious Droid pointed out in the video below, “the moral of the story to many is that NASA was a wasteful government organization that would be giving your hard-earned tax dollars to some greedy contractors charging sky-high prices for seemingly trivial objects whereas the enemy (the Soviet Union) was common sense and practical.”

Moon Landing Space Exploration Technology

Why can’t we Remake the Rocketdyne F-1 Engine, which took humans to the Moon?

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 27, 2018
6 Comments on Why can’t we Remake the Rocketdyne F-1 Engine, which took humans to the Moon?

Apollo 11 launch (cropped) — The Apollo 11 Saturn V lifts off at 9:32 a.m. EDT July 16, 1969, from Kennedy's Launch Complex 39A. As of 2018, Saturn V launch vehicle still remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever built. This is a cropped image. You can see the full image at: NASA The Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar mission, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida via the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The Saturn V vehicle produced a holocaust of flames as it rose from its pad at Launch complex 39. The 363 foot tall, 6,400,000 pound (2,902,991 kg) rocket hurled the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit and then placed it on the trajectory to the moon for the humanity's first lunar landing. Aboard the space craft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land humans on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.

The mighty Saturn V, the rocket that took humans to the moon, remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status (as of 2018). It was used by NASA between 1967 and 1973. It was powered by five Rocketdyne F-1 engines. With a thrust of 1,746,000 lbf (7,770 kN) in vacuum (1,522,000 lbf / 6,770 kN at sea level), the F-1 remains the most powerful single combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket engine ever developed.

Today, private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and space agencies like NASA trying to build powerful rockets in order to reach Moon and Mars. But, we’ve already built a rocket that took us to the moon, why don’t we simply remake it (and the engines)? In the video below, Youtube user Curious Droid answers this question.

Moon Landing Space Exploration

I was on the Moon!

On July 20, 2018 (on the 49th anniversary of the moon landing), Linn LeBlanc, Chief Operating Officer at Buzz Aldrin Ventures, LLC asked on Twitter that: “Where were you 49 years today when @TheRealBuzz and Neil Armstrong made those historic first steps onto the Moon. Congratulations to the #Apollo11 crew and to the thousands that made those steps possible!” And Buzz Aldrin’s answer to that question was brilliant: “I was on the Moon!”

Earth from Space Space Exploration

Amazing Time-Lapse Video Showing Earth from the ISS

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 19, 2018
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Horizons Mission Timelapse, from USA to Africa — European Space Agency has published an amazing time-lapse video showing the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS). The space agency wrote *"Join ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst for a quick flight from the USA to Africa aboard the International Space Station in this time-lapse filmed 12.5 times faster than actual speed."* In the footage, which is sped up by a factor of 12.5, the space station passes over the U.S. and Africa and covers around 8,700 miles (14,000 kilometers). *"Seen from a distance our planet is just a blue dot, a fragile spaceship for humankind. We need to understand the Universe we live in to protect our home."* --Alexander Gerst

European Space Agency has published an amazing time-lapse video showing the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS). The space agency wrote “Join ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst for a quick flight from the USA to Africa aboard the International Space Station in this time-lapse filmed 12.5 times faster than actual speed.” You can watch that breathtaking video below:

Solar System Astronomy Space Exploration

Song of Saturn and Its Moon Enceladus

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 17, 2018
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Enceladus with Saturn. Image credit: Kevin Gill, a software engineer, planetary and climate data wrangler, science data visualization artist ( image source). Rendered with Autodesk Maya, postprocessing in Adobe Photoshop. Enceladus is Saturn's sixth largest moon, only 157 miles (252 km) in mean radius, but it's one of the most scientifically compelling bodies in our solar system. Hydrothermal vents spew water vapor and ice particles from an underground ocean beneath the icy crust of Enceladus. This plume of material includes organic compounds, volatile gases, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, salts and silica. With its global ocean, unique chemistry and internal heat, Enceladus has become a promising lead in our search for worlds where life could exist.

NASA has published an amazing video titled “Sounds of Saturn: Hear Radio Emissions of the Planet and Its Moon Enceladus”. The analysis of the data from the Cassini Spacecraft’s Grand Finale orbits showed a surprisingly powerful interaction of plasma waves moving from Saturn to its icy moon Enceladus. Researchers converted the recording of plasma waves into a “whooshing” audio file that we can hear, in the same way a radio translates electromagnetic waves into music.

Geography Climate Earth from Space Global Warming

18 Largest Islands on Earth

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 15, 2018
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Australia, New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. New Guinea is a large island off the continent of Australia. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, referred to as Western New Guinea or West Papua or simply Papua, formerly a Dutch colony, was annexed by Indonesia in 1962 and has been administered by it since then. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 meters (16,024 ft) high (Puncak Jaya). The highest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers, which have been retreating since at least 1936 due to the global warming. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season. New Guinea has an immense biodiversity. A high percentage of New Guinea's species are endemic, and thousands are still unknown to science. Borneo, a giant, rugged island (the largest in Asia) in Southeast Asia's Malay Archipelago, is shared by the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, Indonesian Kalimantan and the tiny nation of Brunei. It is known for its beaches and ancient, biodiverse rainforest, home to wildlife including orangutans and clouded leopards. Antipodal^{Notes 2} to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world. Sumatra is a large Indonesian island in Southeast Asia that is part of the Sunda Islands. It is known for its rugged tropical terrain, wildlife and smoldering volcanoes. The island has a wide range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years. Java is famous for its volcanoes, which run through the island’s center like a spine. Many are active, intermittently spewing plumes of ash into the atmosphere. But the white areas surrounding the volcanoes in the top image do not have a fiery origin: they are clouds. However, they were influenced by the volcanic topography.

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. It is believed that there are over 100,000 islands in the world. It’s difficult to put a figure to the exact number as there are different kinds of them in various water bodies including oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. There is even an island within a lake that is situated on an island located in a lake on an island. Only 322 of them are larger than 1000 km² (386 sq mi). Here are the top 18 largest islands on Earth. Why 18? Because this is the number of islands that have a land area of greater than 100,000 square kilometers (38,610 square miles).

Space Exploration

Russian spacecraft arrives at the ISS in just 3 hours and 40 minutes

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 13, 2018
No Comments on Russian spacecraft arrives at the ISS in just 3 hours and 40 minutes

Russia’s Progress 70 resupply spacecraft set a milestone for International Space Station operations when it arrived in a record time: just three hours and 40 minutes, or only two Earth orbits (of the ISS). The uncrewed spacecraft delivered the cargo which includes 530 kg of propellant, 52 kg of oxygen gas, 420 kg of water, and 1,565 kg of “dry” cargo such as food and other equipment to the space station.

The spacecraft launched at 5:51 p.m. EDT (3:51 a.m. July 10 in Baikonur) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Less than 10 minutes after the launch, the resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned. The spacecraft then made two orbits of Earth before docking at 9:31 p.m. EDT to the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station.

Astronomy Space Exploration

ESA Has Published Complete Rosetta Image Archive

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date July 3, 2018
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Rosetta image of 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko (October 28, 2014). This is a cropped image. You can see the original image on ESA website. Rosetta was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta is performing a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). On 6 August 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and performed a series of maneuvers to be captured in its orbit. On 12 November 2014, Rosetta soft-landed its Philae probe on the comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved. Though Philae's battery power ran out two days later, because it landed oddly, likely in the shadow of a nearby cliff or crater wall and canted at an angle of around 30 degrees. This made it unable to adequately collect solar power, and it lost contact with Rosetta when its batteries ran out after two days, well before much of the planned science objectives could be attempted. Contact was briefly and intermittently reestablished several months later at various times between 13 June and 9 July, before contact was lost once again. There has been no communication since, and it is highly unlikely that Philae will communicate with ESA again. Communications with Philae were briefly restored in June and July 2015, but due to diminishing solar power, Rosetta's communications module with the lander was turned off on 27 July 2016. On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma'at region.

European Space Agency (ESA) has published the complete Rosetta image archive under a Creative Commons license, which means the complete archive is freely available: you can copy, share, and tweak the content.