Artist's image courtesy NASA
ON THE CUSP. OR NOT.: Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 keeps on chugging along. Now more than 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from our sun, the data it's sending back strongly suggests the spacecraft is closer to becoming the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.
Three recently published papers in the journal Science detail Voyager 1's entry into the magnetic highway, where it has made observations of the highest rate so far of charged particles from outside the heliosphere, the magnetic bubble containing our solar system, solar wind, and entire solar magnetic field. Voyager 1 has also detected the waning of charged particles from inside the heliosphere.
Per a NASA press release today, to date scientists have seen two of the three signs of interstellar arrival they expected to see (charged particles disappearing as they zoom out along the solar magnetic field, and cosmic rays from far outside zooming in). However, scientists have yet to see the third sign, which is an abrupt change in the direction of the magnetic field. That change would indicate the presence of the interstellar magnetic field.
It is unknown exactly how much further Voyager 1 has to go to reach interstellar space. Scientists estimate it could take several more months - or even years - to get there. It's uncharted territory, after all. What is (supposedly) known is that the heliosphere extends at least 8 billion miles (13 billion kilometers) beyond all the planets in our solar system. That's a loooong way. The press release today explained that the 'environment' within this heliosphere is dominated by our sun's magnetic field and an ionized wind expanding outward from the sun, while outside the heliosphere, interstellar space is filled with matter from other stars and the magnetic field present in the nearby region of the Milky Way.
There's lots more to be learned about Voyagers 1 and 2 here: http://www.nasa.gov/voyager andhttp://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov .
ATLANTIS UNVEILING: Just a quick 'heads up,' on Friday, June 28, the new Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit at Kennedy Space Center will be officially unveiled. There will be a special webcast on NASA's Digital Learning Network Event for the celebration. It begins at 10 a.m. Pacific time - http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/dln/webcast/webcast.html. (UPDATE - some spots on the Internet it says/said the broadcast began at 9 a.m. Pacific time - that turned out not to be the case, based on the definitely NOT Atlantis-centric broadcast on DLN at the time). UPDATE TO UPDATE: We're having ZERO luck watching the broadcast - we can't get it on any of our computers on any of the DLN Channels. Very disappointing.
You know we'll be watching, especially since Atlantis was the one and only shuttle was saw launch in person.
I've seen some photos from media friends who have been given advance looks at Atlantis' new display. They are spectacular! Guests visiting the new Space Shuttle AtlantisSM attraction will see something only astronauts in space have witnessed - the orbiter, tilted at a 43.21-degree angle with its payload bay doors open. It's a very dynamic display and one that took careful planning, because the 60-foot long, 2,500 pound, graphite epoxy composite doors were designed to be operated in zero gravity.
Photo credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex - http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/
All this said, I sure wish the shuttles weren't all museum pieces now. Sigh.
MARS, REVISITED: We here at MPA have our name on Mars already, thanks to NASA's opportunity to send them along with Mars Science Laboratory a couple years ago. BTW, 1.2 million names were on board that mission! And look - ours are right here, on these (red circled) microchips, on the Red Planet right now!
Photo credit: NASA/JPL
This go 'round we have the chance to, well, go 'round Mars on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is set to launch in November of this year. MAVEN will orbit Mars, exploring the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the sun and solar wind.
MAVEN will carry names on a DVD. Also on board will be a trio of haukis, because a haiku contest is part of the promo. The public will vote on which haikus (in the 5-7-5 style) to send. We submitted ours today, and will publish them here once the contest deadline closes.
After our submissions, we each got a nifty certificate of participation. Sweet!
To get your name on board and your haiku submitted, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars/send-your-name/ BY JULY 1, 2013.
UP AND AWAY: At dinnertime we watched a rocket-bearing airplane lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Underneath the body of the plane was an Oribal Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, and on board that rocket was NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft. At 7:27, the rocket separated from the plane, and at the appointed time, IRIS separated from the rocket, and the command center at NASA Ames had communicated with the craft. Cool stuff!
Check out this 1-minute video of the launch yourself, especially if you've never seen a mid-air rocket launch: http://www.floridatoday.com/videonetwork/2514419157001/NASA-IRIS-mission-launches-from-Orbital-aircraft
looks like an easy, cheap way to launch small payloads. What would it take to scale it up - oh, wait - that's what the space shuttle was.
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