Jupiter to be the Subject of Ambitious Missions

Bold New Mission to Study Jupiter's Moons
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have selected a Europa-Jupiter System Mission (EJSM). The mission calls for the development of two different orbiters that will study Jupiter's moons Europa, Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. NASA will be tasked with building one orbiter, the Jupiter Europa, while ESA will build the other, Jupiter Ganymede. Both spacecraft are to launch in 2020 with the goal of reaching Jupiter by 2026 and spending three years studying the planet and its moons.

Not Yet Funded
As of this writing, neither of these mission has been funded though both agencies have set aside money to continue developing plans and concepts. Given the projected launch date, however, the agencies appear to have plenty of time to secure funding for the mission.

Mission Goals: Habitable Locations
According to NASA, a key mission goal will be to study the emergence of potentially habitable locations in the Jupiter system. Though distant from the sun, Jupiter's moons are kept warm internally by tidal interaction with the very massive Jupiter and it has been long thought that Europa likely has warmer seas beneath it's icy exterior. The possibility of deep sea vents like those found on the ocean floor on Earth has been a key interest of researchers as these areas are very rich in life here on Earth. Europa is considered to be one of the most likely places in the solar system to find life.

Mission Concepts: What's it Taste Like?
Though the details regarding the specific instruments haven't been fully developed or released, one concept is to fire "darts" at Europa to discover more about it's chemistry. These darts might even be penetrators that could get through the icy surface. Other interests involve using spectrometers to look at the chemical make-up of ejected material on the surface, looking especially for organics.

Images courtesy of NASA/ESA

U.S. and Russian Satellites Collide!

Satellites Collide in Orbit
A U.S. satellite and a Russian satellite have collided in orbit in what is thought to be the first collision accident of it's type. A satellite owned by Iridium has collided with a defunct Russian satellite known as Cosmos 2251 in orbit at high speeds and has scattered considerable debris.

Space Station Risk?
NASA has indicated that risk to the space station is very low since the ISS orbits much lower than the satellites and the location of the collision. Any debris scattered downward should continue into the atmosphere and burn up.

Need for "Awareness"
The orbit where the collision occurred is a common orbital altitude for weather, communications, and climate science satellites. The collision highlights the need for better tracking of objects and debris in orbit. The collision is also likely to further increase the amount of maneuvering required by spacecraft to dodge dangerous debris.

Iridium Services Unaffected
The collision is not expect to affect services provided by Iridium and the company has indicated that an in-orbit spare will be moved to replace the lost one within 30 days. Iridium has said that the collision is not a result of any failure on the part of Iridium technology.

Debris Joins that from Chinese Weapon Test
The debris from this collision is in an orbit very near that of the debris produced when China intentionally tested an anti-satellite weapon that produced a massive debris cloud and generated outrage throughout the world in January 2007.

- James Thomas

Saturn's Moon Titan has Methane Rain

It's raining Methane on Saturn's moon Titan.

Titan has revealed itself to be a very interesting moon with a dynamic atmosphere. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and has an atmosphere 10 times more dense than that of the Earth. In fact, Titan is the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere anywhere near comparable to that of a planet. And now, it appears that rain and weather produce massive lakes of Methane on Titan.

Cassini Mission

The observations have been made by scientists using the Cassini spacecraft which arrived at Saturn in June 2004. The Cassini mission has been imaging Titan for some time and has made numerous intriguing observations. The Cassini mission is scheduled to be completed on September 30, 2010 but there is increasing pressure to extend the mission a full seven additional use. These observations are sure to bolster the argument that the mission is providing such useful data that it should be continued.

Massive Lakes of Methane
Titan is now known to have massive lakes and rivers of Methane and Ethane (effectively natural gas). Now, Cassini has observed changes in the features of those lakes that appear to be related to storm and weather activity. The Cassini imaging team has observed hourly changes in clouds and weather than hint at the idea that Methane rain has resulted in the changing lake features. These features appear to be related to changing "seasons" on the moon. Many of these lakes are huge. When full, Titan's lake Kraken Mare is 5 times larger the Lake Superior in North America. These and other observations are leading scientists to postulate that some reservoir of Methane must exist underground.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Photo Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

China Could Beat the United States to the Moon

NASA administrator Michael Griffin has told the BBC "Certainly it is possible that if China wants to put people on the Moon, and if it wishes to do so before the United States, it certainly can. As a matter of technical capability, it absolutely can."

Chinese officials have said there is no plan to do so, but other recent statements by the Chinese express, at least, a strong interest in going to the moon and developing their space capability significantly. China launched it's first piloted spacecraft in 2003, making it the 3rd nation to launch a citizen into space. India will launch an unmanned space probe this year and has announced a very ambitious plan for manned missions. China, Russia, and to a lesser extent India, have all indicated that they are interested in space not just for science, but for resources and energy.

Meanwhile, funding for the new moon effort initiated by United States president George. W. Bush has been slow in the making. Though NASA has been given a new mission by president Bush, the funding to support the mandate has not been complete. With the shuttle nearing retirement, NASA is facing the possibility of a multi-year gap during which the U.S. will not be able to reach the space station. The election in the United States further complicated this matter as presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated that he would halt work on the new NASA program to pay for other non-space efforts he has proposed.

Aerojet to provide propulsion for Sundancer

Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas Nevada has reached an agreement with Aerojet (a company of GenCorp Inc.) to provide aft propulsion systems, and the system to handle rendezvous and docking.

According to Bigelow Aerospace Program Manager Eric Haakonstad. "Sundancer is a great opportunity for fast paced private industry to team with a world leader in space propulsion to further Bigelow Aerospace's goal of developing sustainable commercial space stations."

Sundancer:
Sundancer is the first module produced by Bigelow Aerospace that is capable of human habitation. Bigelow is already orbiting their Genesis I and Genesis II unmanned spacecraft, with Genesis I having completed over 10,000 orbits to date. The concept behind the craft is to demonstrate the first space habitat that is expanded ("inflated" - kind of) upon reaching orbit. This technology was successfully demonstrated on the Genesis I, which is also testing a variety of systems anticipated for use in future expandable human habitats. Sundancer represents the first of the expandable habitats capable of supporting humans in space. This concept of inflatable habitats is on the drawing board for lunar and other space-based human habitats as well.

Proposed European Spaceship Unveiled in Berlin

A model of a proposed human-crewed spacecraft built by EADS Astrium was unveiled today at the international Aerospace Exhibition in Berlin. It is claimed the craft could put humans in space within 10 years with backing from European nations. This is of particular interest because the EU currently has no independent means for manned space and must rely on Russian and U.S. Shuttle technology.

Billed as quite affordable, the craft would have the capacity to be used also as a return to Earth freight capsule, which would be of great interest to the U.S. and other nations involved in operating the International Space Station (ISS).

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Welcome and thanks for visiting New Space: News & Discussion. My motivation for this blog is to present news, events, analysis, and opinion related to space exploration, development, and commercialization. I am interested in a variety of related aspects including both technology development, economic development in space, space-based vs. Earth-based resourcing, launch technology, private space companies, and space law including property rights.