SpaceX Release images of Falcon 9 Launcher crash - Video

Video of SpaceX Falcon 9's Lower Stage Launcher crash 

Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX Falcon 9's Lower Stage Launcher crash.

Credit: Space X

SpaceX Falcon 9's Lower Stage Launcher crashes back onto the deck of the floating platform that was intended as its safe haven.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has released pictures from his firms recent failed attempt to land a rocket on a boat.

The images show the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket hitting the boat at a 45 degree angle before exploding.

Looking closely at the images above, you can see the steerable fins at the top of the rocket, designed to bring it in for a safe landing.

Musk has previously said that the fins ran out of hydraulic fluid just before landing, meaning the rocket lost control, so SpaceX will be adding more fluid for its next attempt.

The rocket came in too fast, destroying its landing legs, and then the leftover fuel ignited and it exploded (see below).

"Full RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly) event. Ship is fine minor repairs. Exciting day!" tweeted Musk.

ESA Rosetta Team release composite picture of Comet 67/P

Four-image mosaic of Comet 67P/C-G on 30 October. 

Credits: ESA /Rosetta /NAVCAM

The mosaic comprises four individual NAVCAM images taken on 30 October when the Rosetta spacecraft was 26.8 km from the centre of the comet.

The image resolution at this distance is 2.27 m/pixel, and thus each 1024 x 1024 frame covers 2.3 km at the comet. The slightly cropped mosaic covers 4.0 x 3.7 km.

Even at this increased distance from the nucleus, the time between the four NAVCAM images means that it is difficult to make a completely accurate mosaic.

Thus, as always, caution is needed in interpreting some features on the surface and faint emission around the nucleus.

The four individual images that make up this mosaic are provided here.

The centre of the landing site is located roughly in the top centre, close to the horizon in this viewing angle; check against this image to help with orientation.

The large depression that characterises the smaller lobe of the comet can be seen in the right-hand side at top right, while parts of the larger lobe can be seen in the lower half, with the still unseen portion of the comet again cast in dramatic shadow.

IPHAS: Most detailed catalogue of the visible Milky Way released

Click on the image to see the large version.

A density map of part of the Milky Way disk, constructed from IPHAS data. The scales show galactic latitude and longitude, coordinates that relate to the position of the centre of the galaxy. 

The mapped data are the counts of stars detected in i, the longer (redder) wavelength broad band of the survey, down to a faint limit of 19th magnitude. 

Although this is just a small section of the full map, it portrays in exquisite detail the complex patterns of obscuration due to interstellar dust. 

This image contains 600 x 2400 independent data points, each of which represents the star count within 1 x 1 square arcminute cells (1 arcminute is 1/60th of a degree). 

At the level of the original exposed images, each cell is itself made up of 32000 pixels. 

The typical effective angular resolution of the data is close to 1 arcsecond (1/3600th of a degree or about 10 original image pixels). 

The section shown features the edge of the Sagittarius spiral arm (near longitude 60 degrees) and the Cygnus-X

A new catalogue of the visible part of the northern part of our home Galaxy, the Milky Way, includes no fewer than 219 million stars.

Geert Barentsen of the University of Hertfordshire led a team who assembled the catalogue in a ten year programme using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) on La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Their work appears today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. A preprint version is available on the arXiv server.

From dark sky sites on Earth, the Milky Way appears as a glowing band stretching across the sky.

To astronomers, it is the disk of our own galaxy, a system stretching across 100,000 light-years, seen edge-on from our vantage point orbiting the Sun.

The disk contains the majority of the stars in the galaxy, including the Sun, and the densest concentrations of dust and gas.

Isaac Newton Telescope (INT)

The unaided human eye struggles to distinguish individual objects in this crowded region of the sky, but the 2.5-m mirror of the INT enabled the scientists to resolve and chart 219 million separate stars.

The INT programme charted all the stars brighter than 20th magnitude,or 1 million times fainter than can be seen with the human eye.

Using the catalogue, the scientists have put together an extraordinarily detailed map of the disk of the Galaxy that shows how the density of stars varies, giving them a new and vivid insight into the structure of this vast system of stars, gas and dust.

The image included here, a cut-out from a stellar density map mined directly from the released catalogue, illustrates the new view obtained.

The Turner-like brush strokes of dust shadows would grace the wall of any art gallery. Maps like these also stand as useful tests of new-generation models for the Milky Way.

The production of the catalogue, IPHAS DR2 (the second release from the survey programme The INT Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane or IPHAS), is an example of modern astronomy's exploitation of 'big data', it contains information on the 219 million detected objects, each of which is summarised in 99 attributes.

With this catalogue release, the team are offering the world community free access to measurements taken through two broad band filters capturing light at the red end of the visible spectrum, and in a narrowband capturing the brightest hydrogen emission line, H-alpha.

The inclusion of H-alpha also enables exquisite imaging of the nebulae (glowing clouds of gas) found in greatest number within the disk of the Milky Way.

The stellar density map illustrated here is derived from the longest (reddest) wavelength band in which the darkening effect of the dust is moderated in a way that brings out more of its structural detail, compared to maps built at shorter (bluer) wavelengths.

More information
"The second data release of the INT Photometric Hα Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS DR2)", Barentsen et al, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 444, pp. 3230-3257, 2014, published by Oxford University Press. A preprint version is available on the arXiv server.

Spacewalking astronauts release Peruvian nanosatellite Chasqui 1

This photo provided by NASA shows Chasqui 1, a tiny Peruvian research satellite, right of center, launched by spacewalking astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. 

The satellite, weighing barely 2 pounds, holds instruments to measure temperature and pressure and cameras that will photograph Earth. 

Credit: NASA

Spacewalking astronauts launched Chasqui 1 a tiny Peruvian research satellite Monday, setting it loose on a mission to observe Earth.

Russian astronaut Oleg Artemiev cast the 4-inch (10.1-centimeter) box off with his gloved right hand as the International Space Station sailed 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the cloud-flecked planet.

The nanosatellite gently tumbled as it cleared the vicinity of the orbiting complex, precisely as planned.

"One, two, three," someone called out in Russian as Artemiev let go of the satellite.

Cameras watched as the nanosatellite, named Chasqui 1 after the Inca messengers who were fleet of foot, increased its distance and grew smaller.

Artemiev's Russian spacewalking partner, Alexander Skvortsov, tried to keep his helmet camera aimed at the satellite as it floated away.

The satellite, barely 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms), holds instruments to measure temperature and pressure, and cameras that will photograph Earth.

It's a technological learning experience for the National University of Engineering in Lima. A Russian cargo ship delivered the device earlier this year.

Less than a half-hour into the spacewalk, the satellite was on its way, flying freely.

With that completed, Artemiev and Skvortsov set about installing fresh science experiments outside the Russian portion of the space station and retrieving old ones.

"Be careful," Russian Mission Control outside Moscow warned as the astronauts made their way to their next work site.

They also collected samples from a window of the main Russian living compartment; engineers want to check for any engine residue from visiting spacecraft.

The spacewalkers wrapped up their work early. Flight controllers thanked them for their five-hour effort.

The two conducted a spacewalk in June, a few months after moving into the space station. Four other men live there: another Russian, two Americans and one German.

U.S. spacewalks, meanwhile, remain on hold.

NASA hoped to resume them this month after a yearlong investigation but delayed the activity until fall to get fresh spacesuit batteries on board.

The SpaceX company will deliver the batteries on a Dragon supply ship next month. Engineers are concerned about the fuses of the on-board batteries.

Before the battery issue, NASA was stymied by a spacesuit problem that nearly cost an Italian astronaut his life last summer.

Luca Parmitano's helmet flooded with water from the suit's cooling system, and he barely made it back inside.

The investigation into that incident is now complete, with safety improvements made to the U.S. spacesuits.

Kibo lab SSOD Releases Cubesats From Space Station

Three nanosatellites, known as Cubesats, are deployed from a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) attached to the Kibo laboratory’s robotic arm at 7:10 a.m. (EST) on Nov. 19, 2013. 

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 38 flight engineer, monitored the satellite deployment while operating the Japanese robotic arm from inside Kibo. 

The Cubesats were delivered to the International Space Station Aug. 9, aboard Japan’s fourth H-II Transfer Vehicle, Kounotori-4. 

Image Credit: NASA

NASA MAVEN: 'Tour' ancient, wet Mars in YouTube video

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has release a YouTube video it says shows how Mars may have looked 4 billion years ago.

When the Red Planet was young, it appears to have had a thick atmosphere that was warm enough to support oceans of liquid water -- a critical ingredient for life -- and the YouTube video shows how the planet could have appeared at the time, the space agency said Wednesday.

Beginning with a flyover of a martian lake, rapidly moving clouds suggest the passage of time and the shift from a warm and wet to a cold and dry climate.

As millions of years fly by the lakes dry up, while the atmosphere gradually transitions from Earth-like blue skies to the dusty pink and tan hues seen on Mars today.

NASA's YouTube "tour" of Mars comes as it prepares to launch its MAVEN spacecraft that will study the planet's atmosphere.

The launch is set for Nov. 18 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA, USGS release first Landsat 8 images

The area around Boulder, Colo., is shown here in a true colour image collected by the OLI aboard LDCM on March 18, 2013. 

The OLI and an important component of TIRS, its cryocooler, were built at the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation facility in Boulder. 

Credit: USGS/NASA Earth Observatory

NASA and the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have released the first images from the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite, which was launched Feb. 11.

The natural-colour images show the intersection of the United States Great Plains and the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado.

In the images, green coniferous forests in the mountains stretch down to the brown plains with Denver and other cities strung south to north.

"We are very excited about this first collection of simultaneous imagery," said Jim Irons, LDCM project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"These images confirm we have two healthy, functioning sensors that survived the rigors of launch and insertion into Earth orbit."

Since launch, LDCM has been going through on-orbit testing.

The mission operations team has completed its review of all major spacecraft and instrument subsystems, and performed multiple spacecraft attitude maneuvers to verify the ability to accurately point the instruments.

The two LDCM sensors collect data simultaneously over the same ground path. OLI collects light reflected off the surface of Earth in nine different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including bands of visible light and near-infrared and short-wave-infrared bands, which are beyond human vision.

TIRS collects data at two longer wavelength thermal infrared bands that measure heat emitted from the surface.

By looking at different band combinations, scientists can distinguish features on the land surface.

These features include forests and how they respond to natural and human-caused disturbances, and the health of agricultural crops and how much water they use.

Data from LDCM will extend a continuous, 40-year-long data record of Earth's surface from previous Landsat satellites, an unmatched, impartial perspective that allows scientists to study how landscapes all across the world change through time.

The natural-colour images were processed by the EROS Data Center north of Sioux Falls.

"These first scenes from the new Landsat satellite continue the remarkable output from the Landsat program with better, more useful imagery and information," said Matthew C. Larsen, associate director for climate and land use change at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va.

"We are gratified that this productive partnership between USGS and NASA has maintained the continuity and utility of this essential satellite tool, providing the foundation for land and water management around the globe."

As planned, LDCM currently is flying in an orbit slightly lower than its operational orbit of 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

As the spacecraft's thrusters raise its orbit, the NASA-USGS team will take the opportunity to collect imagery while LDCM is flying under Landsat 7, also operating in orbit.

Measurements collected simultaneously from both satellites will allow the team to cross-calibrate the LDCM sensors with Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Mapper-Plus instrument.

"So far, our checkout activities have gone extremely well," said Ken Schwer, LDCM project manager at Goddard.

"The mission operations team has done a tremendous job getting us to the point of imaging Earth." During the next few weeks, this team will calibrate the instruments and verify they meet performance specifications.

After its checkout and commissioning phase is complete, LDCM will begin its normal operations in May. At that time, NASA will hand over control of the satellite to the USGS, which will operate it throughout its planned five-year mission life.

The satellite will be renamed Landsat 8. USGS will process data from OLI and TIRS and add it to the Landsat Data Archive at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, where it will be distributed for free via the Internet.

For more information on these first LDCM images

For more information on the LDCM mission.

NASA MESSENGER Mercury: Data from Third Mercury Solar Day

"Mercury is a planet of many mysteries," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. 

"With each increment of data, we have made discoveries that raised new questions. 

Finding answers to those questions requires further analysis. 

We hope that this latest release of MESSENGER data will induce more of our colleagues from the broader planetary science community to help us unravel the many stories that Mercury has yet to tell."

NASA's Planetary Data System released a new data set collected during MESSENGER's thirteenth through eighteenth month in orbit around Mercury.

With this release, images and measurements are now available to the public for the third full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital operations.

Sean Solomon

NASA requires that all of its planetary missions archive data in the PDS, which makes available well-documented, peer-reviewed data to the research community.

This ninth delivery of MESSENGER measurements includes raw and calibrated data from all seven of the mission's science instruments, plus radio science data from the spacecraft telecommunications system, from March 25 to September 17, 2012.

The team has also provided, for the first time in this release, advanced products created with data collected through March 25, 2012, encompassing the first two full Mercury solar days of MESSENGER orbital operations. Those products include the first global mosaics of Mercury to be delivered to PDS.

"The two advanced image products in this release are an eight-color map and a higher-resolution monochrome map," says Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Instrument Scientist Nancy Chabot, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).

"They are both the products of thousands of images mosaicked together to reveal Mercury's global geology and color characteristics. These mosaics required considerable effort by many on the MESSENGER team, and we are all very proud to make these global maps available."

Other advanced products include

• summed gamma-ray spectra and background-subtracted, geo-located neutron counts from the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer;
• time-averaged magnetic field data from the Magnetometer;
• altimeter profiles, radiometry, and a northern hemisphere digital elevation map produced with data from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA);
• limb tangent height and surface reflectance spectra from the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer;
• pitch-angle and measured-flux distributions and energy spectra from the Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer; and
• occultation data and spherical harmonic gravity and shape models derived from the radio science investigation and the MLA.

"Many in the public have been eagerly awaiting the release of the MESSENGER advanced products, and the MESSENGER team is excited to be able to provide them," says APL's Susan Ensor, MESSENGER's Science Operations Center lead.

"Extra analyses and processing are required to generate these products, which in many cases combine data over time and include maps, topography, and other global data. The team has also worked closely with the PDS in planning and documenting these new products to ensure their long-term usefulness to the science community."

"Mercury is a planet of many mysteries," adds MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

"With each increment of data, we have made discoveries that raised new questions. Finding answers to those questions requires further analysis. We hope that this latest release of MESSENGER data will induce more of our colleagues from the broader planetary science community to help us unravel the many stories that Mercury has yet to tell."

NASA MIT Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS): Prepares to release first results

The scientist leading one of the most expensive experiments ever put into space says the project is ready to come forward with its first results.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was put on the International Space Station to survey the skies for high-energy particles, or cosmic rays.

Nobel Laureate Sam Ting said the scholarly paper to be published in a few weeks would concern dark matter.

This is the unseen material whose gravity holds galaxies together.

Researchers do not know what form this mysterious cosmic component takes, but one theory points to it being some very weakly interacting massive particle (Wimp).

Although telescopes cannot detect the Wimp, there are high hopes that AMS can confirm its existence and describe some of its properties from indirect measures.

The imminent publication in an as yet undetermined journal will detail the progress of that investigation.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor said the project he first proposed back in the mid-1990s had now reached an important milestone.

"We've waited 18 years to write this paper, and we're now making the final check," he told reporters.

"I would imagine in two or three weeks, we should be able to make an announcement.

"We have six analysis groups to analyse the same results. Physicists as you know - everybody has their own interpretations, and we're now making sure everyone agrees with each other. And this is pretty much done now."

Sam Ting was speaking here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

His $2bn machine was taken up to the ISS in 2011 - on the final mission of Shuttle Endeavour.

The seven-tonne experiment holds a giant, specially designed magnet that bends the paths of particles that fall on it.

The way they bend reveals their charge, a fundamental property that, together with information about their mass, velocity and energy, garnered from a slew of detectors, tells scientists precisely what they are dealing with.

Prof Ting said that in its first 18 months of operation, AMS had witnessed 25 billion particle events.

Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle-3 Being Readied For Release by Canadarm2

The International Space Station's Canadarm2 unberths the unpiloted Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3), filled with trash and unneeded items, in preparation for its release from the station.

JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, both Expedition 32 flight engineers, used the station's robot arm to grapple the HTV-3 and unberth it from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node.

The cargo craft was released at 11:50 a.m. (EDT) on Sept. 12, 2012.