MSL GO!

Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) 11/18/11 1:51 PM One week to launch! @NASA gave me the "GO" to proceed toward liftoff, 10:25am ET, Nov 25. Countdown page: bit.ly/rxAEkz

Plants in Space

Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) 11/18/11 12:49 PM Sergei Volkov studies plant life in space for potential nutrition on future missions. go.usa.gov/Ife pic.twitter.com/PukeZ60s

NPP update

Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) 11/18/11 12:22 PM ARTICLE: NPP arrives on final orbit, enjoys early success ahead of pathfinder operations - tinyurl.com/7k26ueh #NPP

ISS Flyover Thursday Morning

Thursday, November 17, 2011 6:12 a.m. (EST)

Thursday morning just before dawn will be the next opportunity to see the International Space Station (ISS) fly over the New York metro area. The ISS will rise in the southwest and travel in front of the moon and directly overhead before setting in the northeast. Look for a large, slow moving dot of light. It will appear as a large, bright star but with a steady motion across the sky. This pass will last about six minutes because it will be so high in the sky. The unfortunate thing is the weather forecast right now. It may not have cleared enough to see the ISS. 

Satellite Name (Peak Magnitude)
	Pass	Time	El	Az	Range
Sunset:		4:36:36 PM
Midnight:		12:00:00 AM
ISS (-3.0)
	Start:	6:12:14 AM	10°	230°(SW)	856 mi
	Peak:	6:15:18 AM	81°	146°(SE)	236 mi
	End:	6:18:22 AM	10°	56°(NE)	852 mi
Sunrise:		6:44:51 AM

Pass predictions by GoSatWatch
www.gosoftworks.com

Why Go To Mars?

As the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Curiosity Rover draw closer, I have been sharing the mission objectives and launch preparations with my 4th and 5th grade math and science students (9-11 year olds). These discussions have been an incredible mix of excitement, fascination, awe, and serious thinking. I asked them, “Why should we go to Mars?” I have collected their responses to share with you here:

Many students responded that they are concerned at the demands humans have placed on our Earth ecosystem. With more than 7 billion people on the planet, they are concerned with the availability of resources and space to support an ever growing population. They also shared concerns with the damage humans have done to the ecosystem and are concerned that human actions may be making the Earth less habitable. From these concerns, they spoke to humans needed other options of places where we can survive. Finding that Mars could support life, might mean that it could be somewhere humans could colonize and take some of the pressure off of Earth. “Curiosity will help us figure out if Mars is safe [for humans].”

Along these lines, some of my students also thought that there might be minerals or other resources on Mars that we could exploit. Things that might lead to new medicines or improve our condition here on Earth in some way.

Many students spoke to the sheer curiosity, sense of adventure, and exploration for the sake of exploration. If we can explore and study it, why not?! “I just want to know if alien life is out there.”

Finally, they also shared their concerns and need for caution as humans explore space. “We already made a bit of a mess here, we don’t want to just junk up Mars the way we have Earth.” Curiosity will help us “understand the Martian ecosystem so we don’t mess it up.” “If we go there, we don’t want to mess it up by doing something wrong.”

Of course my students have a little more information that other children their age might, just because they are in my classes. But at the core of all this is deep thinking about how our planet functions and the needs of living things. They care deeply about their home and their future. To them, Curiosity brings a sense of hope in that future. It sparks the imagination, excites the spirit. We are going to Mars!

Post Script:

I appreciate so much the thoughts of my students and enjoy the discussions we have. I am honored to share their thoughts with my followers. If you care to share your comments, please do so using the Blogger commenting feature and I will share them with my students.

ISS Expedition 29 L-1 Day

The next three crew members to the Interenational Space Station launch from Kazahkstan on Sunday 13 Nov at 11:14p EST. The Soyuz TMA-22 will carry NASA Astronaut Daniel C. Burbank, and Russian Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin to the ISS for rendezvous and docking after midnight on Wednesday 16 Nov. This is the last scheduled flight of the TMA-22. The next launch, scheduled for 21 Dec, will be a TMA-22-M.

Photo Gallery of TMA-22 rollout from NASAHQPhoto

The ISS will be at full crew of six for a about a week, when Mike Fossom will hand over command to Dan Burbank and returns to Earth with Sergey Volkov, Russia and Satoshi Furukawa, Japan on 21 Nov.

The ISS will be making passes over the Eastern US in the early mornings before sunrise beginning on 14 Nov and lasting into early Dec. Several passes, depending on cloud cover, should be good opportunities to see the ISS. I will make some recommendations in a subsequent post.

MSL/Curiosity Briefing

L-15 Days Mission Briefing from NASA HQ in Washington DC. 10 Nov 2011

Doug McCuistion, Mars program director, left, Ashwin Vasavada, MSL deputy project scientist, and Pete Theisinger, MSL project manager, share a laugh during a news briefing, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Curiosity, NASA's most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, will examine one of the most intriguing areas on Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is set for launch from Florida's Space Coast on Nov. 25 and is scheduled to land on the Red Planet in August 2012 where it will examine the Gale Crater during a nearly two-year prime mission. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

The briefing began with the quote, "[MSL/Curiosity is] The largest most capable rover to date." There was no lack of enthusiasm throughout the briefing, and if you weren't already excited about this mission, you certainly would be after this.

Doug McCuistion began his description of Curiosity with, "It's not your father's rover. It's the most complex machine ever placed on another planet. It is the best of US imagination and innovation. With Curiosity, we will excite and inspire the nation. Curiosity is a flagship mission for the agency (NASA). As important as Hubble." 

MSL is a truly international effort with science and engineering contributions to the mission from Germany, Spain, France, the US, Russia, and Canada.

Ashwin Vasavada remarked that Curiosity is "a Mars scientist's dream." Curiosity is the biggest rover ever, standing about six feet tall and carrying a six foot robotic arm and to fully equipped science laboratories. The arm sports a jackhammer drill that will allow the first ever sampling of the inside of Martian rocks. The rock dust can then be analyzed in one of the onboard labs to look for organic material and minerals that could support life. Curiosity also has HD cameras and closeup cameras that will allow scientist an unprecedented view of Mars. A laser eye sensor will allow Curiosity to take measurements of rocks at a distance of up to 20 feet from the rover.

Curiosity is scheduled to land in Gale Crater in August of 2012. Gale was chosen because its structure and composition and "likely contains the entire history of Mars." The crater is 100 miles in diameter with a 3 mile high mountain of layered rock in the center. The crater and its mountain show signs of being formed in the presence of liquid water, with layers of clay, sulfites, and dust.

I personally, think that the descent stage is the coolest piece of engineering I've seen on any spacecraft. Pete Theisinger spoke to the design of the lander in response to the question, "The sky crane seems, well, um, scary." Theisinger explained, the rover, at 900 kg (2000 lbs) is too big for an air bag landing, so it had to be propulsive. There are two options, propulsion on top, or propulsion below. If the propulsion unit were under the rover, the challenge is how to get something the size and weight of an automobile off the top of it. That left the sky crane as the most viable option. The capsule containing Curiosity and lander is 4.5 m in diameter, larger than an Apollo capsule. The transit to Mars will take 8 1/2 months at a speed of about 12,000 mph. Once on the Martian surface, Theisinger remarked, "It will take time to learn how MSL will work on Mars." Once the operational protocals have been developed in the Martian environment, Vasavada's team of scientists can get to work collecting data for the 2+ year mission. The rover will move at a speed of about 0.1 mph on the Martian surface. This slow rate will ensure it is able to navigate over and around obstacles safely as safe operation is limited by how far Curiosity can see.

Vasavada reminded us all that, "We are looking for habitable environments, not life itself." Curiosity and MSL contain "fabulous organic detection system," however, so "finding life would be a home run." 

In response to the question, "How likely Mars had/has life?" McCuistion joked, "Not sure any of us want to take that question." He went on to say, "Mars keeps surprising us. No one expected to find briny liquid water or 'blueberries' (hematite crystals). There is evidence of liquid water in Gale Crater in the Martain past and that is why it was chosen as the landing site."

MSL/Curiosity will directly help to prepare for a human mission to Mars. With a smaller landing ellipse, robotic handling of samples, launching and landing larger masses, measurements of the Martian atmosphere and radiation exposure over long-term missions, NASA will gain critical knowledge. 

Are you ready for launch? I know I am. I don't think I've been this excited about an unmanned mission since the first Viking photos came back when I was in Middle School. I cannot wait to participate in the NASATweetup on 22 November to learn more about this amazing mission! 

Mars, or bust!

Curious about Curiosity? Good basic info & pictures about the next Mars rover mission here: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Thanks to SpaceTweeps @stephist, @deliciousblur, @chrisastro, and @therealdjflux for helping me curate the briefing for this blog post.