Showing posts with label solar planets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar planets. Show all posts

Friday, January 8, 2016

Barsoom Development Ltd.

The Curiosity Mars Rover sent a 'postcard,' a 360-degree view of dunes and a mountain in Gale Crater.
  1. Postcard from Mars
  2. Postcard from Mars: 360° View
As usual, I'll ramble on about science, technology, and being human, before getting to the interesting stuff: assuming that you think a robotic selfie from Mars is interesting.

Not-entirely-as-usual, I wasn't finished rambling when I started the 'postcard' stuff, so this post has an afterword. I've done that before. (August 28, 2015; July 31, 2015)

This time it was about life, death, and Mars:

Mars and Humanity's Long Journey



(From NASA, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(From the cover of "Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0," Bret G. Drake, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (January 15, 2009))

I don't think it's a question of 'will we travel to Mars.' It's 'will we travel to Mars in a few decades, centuries, or millennia?'

If it's during the next several decades, the odds are pretty good that at least one team will be with NASA. If we decide to put it off for a few centuries or more: it's likely that folks in another part of the world will have the resources and interest needed.

But I would be astonished if this is the moment in our long story when we stop acting like humans.

Starting at least 1,900,000 years back, we began leaving east Africa.

My ancestors include the lot who left humanity's homeland somewhere between 60,000 and 125,000 years ago. We followed receding glaciers into northwestern Europe, eventually crossing the northern Atlantic.

We headed inland, ending up a few day's walk short of the continent's geographic center.

I'm related by marriage to folks who arrived earlier, and that's another topic. Topics. (September 18, 2015; October 31, 2014: July 11, 2014; March 17, 2013)

Minnesota, Hawaii, and Radiation Burns


Outside the window, just over an arm's length to my right, water is a mineral: and won't melt for several months.

But technology ranging from several layers of cloth to polymer sheets made of stuff that didn't exist in my youth, keep the environment next to my skin pretty much like equatorial Africa.

I'd probably get the radiation burns we call sunburn if I went back. We've been away from home for a long time. Yet more topics. (November 20, 2015; October 16, 2015)

Over the last few million years, quite a few of us stayed home: wherever that was at the moment. But quite a few got fed up, were forced out, or simply wondered what was over the next hill: and went over the horizon.

I don't see that as a problem: but I'm descended partly from folks who ended up a tad north of Germania, and moved to a place that's even colder; so I'm arguably not at the 50th percentile.

As for settling Mars, we've done something like it before.

Somewhere between one and two millennia back, Polynesians stocked colony ships with everything they'd need to set up the ecosystem they preferred — and headed across Earth's largest ocean. Arriving in Hawaii, they may or may not have met folks whose ancestors made the trip earlier.

More about Hawaii and all that:
Living in Hawaii doesn't require the sort of tech we need to live on Mars: or Minnesota, for that matter. It's one of the few places on this planet that's actually comfortable for us.

A Vine, a Fig Tree, a Cistern, a Habitat Module - - -


(From "Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0," NASA, used w/o permission.)
(NASA's 'Mars and return' vehicle; 2015. Details will almost certainly change.)

Early outposts on Mars probably won't look exactly like the modules shown in "Mars Exploration Zones." (NASA, YouTube (December 22, 2015)

But I think the design won't be all that different, either. Requirements for living and working haven't changed all that much in the two dozen or so centuries since 2 Kings 18:31 was written.

What's different on Mars is that we'll need to set up a recycling system for air, water, and food. Here on Earth, that's mostly an automatic process that was working long before we showed up.

By now you may be wondering why I called this blog A Catholic Citizen in America. Probably not, though, if you've read these 'science' posts before.

If you know why I'm not offended by technology, truth, and the universe; skip ahead to Postcard from Mars: or get a cup of coffee, take a walk, sort your socks, or whatever. Or check out a short link list of resources.1

Psalms, Wisdom, and Getting a Grip



(From NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); ESA/Hubble Collaboration; used w/o permission.)

The universe is big and old. We've known this for a long time.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft."
(Psalms 19:2)

"3 Terrible and awesome are you, stronger than the ancient mountains."
(Psalms 76:5)

"Yours are the heavens, yours the earth; you founded the world and everything in it."
(Psalms 89:12)

"Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting, LORD."
(Psalms 93:2)

"4 Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.

"But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent.

"For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.

"And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? "
(Wisdom 11:22-25)
Over the last few centuries, we've started getting a notion of just how big and old it is — which bothers some folks no end.

Then, around the middle of the 19th century, some folks said that because we can use the brains God gave us to understand this vast and orderly cosmos — God doesn't exist.

I'm over-simplifying the situation, but this post won't be ready by Friday morning if I start discussing why I think insisting that God agrees with some long-dead Dublin-born Englishman makes no sense. (January 9, 2015; July 15, 2014)

I've also talked about Copernicus, Galileo, newfangled ideas, and getting poetry and science confused, before. Also the possibility that we're not alone in the universe. (August 2, 2015; July 31, 2015; July 18, 2014)

Using Our Brains


I'm a Catholic, so I must believe that God made the universe and the things of faith. I must also believe that honest research cannot contradict faith. We're supposed to study this wonder-filled creation. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159, 2293)
"...God can not deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth...."
(Dei Filius, Vatican Council I, 248 (1870) (quoted in Catechism, 159))
Faith and reason, religion and science, get along fine: or should. (Catechism, 39, 159, 286)

Scientific discoveries are invitations "...to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator...." (Catechism, 283, 341)

The Catholic Church's view of science shouldn't be surprising — We're told that truth is very important. (Catechism, Prologue, 27, 74, more under Truth in the index)

Faith, in the Catholic sense, is not reason: but it's not unreasonable.

Since I believe that the things of faith come from God, that God created the world, and is Truth2 — fearing knowledge of God's world would be illogical.

Then there's the notion using our brains offends God. I've said this before, a lot —

Thinking is not a sin. We're expected to use our brains: wisely. Science and technology, learning about the universe and using that knowledge to develop new tools, is part of being human. (Wisdom 7:17; Catechism, 307, 1730, 2292-2295, 2415-2418)

1. Postcard from Mars



(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, via Space.com, used w/o permission.)
("This Dec. 18, 2015, view of the downwind face of 'Namib Dune'" on Mars covers 360 degrees, including a portion of Mount Sharp on the horizon."
(Space.com))
"Curiosity Rover Eyes Towering Sand Dunes on Mars (Photos)"
Mike Wall, Space.com (January 6, 2015)

"NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has captured some spectacular new photos of big, active sand dunes on the Red Planet.

"The new images depict the dark Bagnold Dunes, which Curiosity has been studying for about 6 weeks in history's first up-close investigation of extraterrestrial sand dunes.

" 'The mission's dune-investigation campaign is designed to increase understanding about how wind moves and sorts grains of sand, in an environment with less gravity and much less atmosphere than well-studied dune fields on Earth,' NASA officials wrote Monday (Jan. 4) in a description of the new photos, which Curiosity took between Dec. 17 and Dec. 21...."
Mount Sharp's official name is Aeolis Mons. It's in Gale Crater, a few degrees south of the Martian equator. Layers visible on Mount Sharp/Aeolis Mons may be old lake bed deposits, exposed by a few billion years of wind and sand: or something else. (May 10, 2013)

Whatever processes shaped Mount Sharp, it looks like lakes and streams flowed in Gale Crater — billions of years ago. (NASA (October 8, 2015))

2. Postcard from Mars: 360° View



(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; via Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; used w/o permission.)
(Curiosity Rover in the Bagnold Dunes near Mount Sharp, Mars: a 360 degree view.)
"Full-Circle Panorama Beside 'Namib Dune' on Mars"
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (January 4, 2016)

"This view of the downwind face of 'Namib Dune' on Mars covers 360 degrees, including a portion of Mount Sharp on the horizon. The site is part of the dark-sand 'Bagnold Dunes' field along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit indicate that dunes in the Bagnold field move as much as about 3 feet (1 meter) per Earth year.

"The component images of this scene were taken on Dec. 18, 2015, by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover during the 1,197th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars.

"The bottom of the dune nearest the rover is about 23 feet (7 meters) from the camera. This downwind face of the dune rises at an inclination of about 28 degrees to a height of about 16 feet (5 meters) above the base. The center of the scene is toward the east; both ends are toward the west...."
That's probably not quite what we'd see if we were standing by Curiosity. The image was 'white balanced,' so the rocks and sand appear roughly as they would under Earth's sunlit sky. We're closer to the sun, so the light is more intense here.

Another adjustment "accommodates including rover hardware in the scene," as JPL put it.

More about that:
Now, a brief harangue about life, death, Mars, and being human.

Interestingly, harangue comes from Middle English arang, French harangue, Old Italian aringa — which came from from aringare ‎which means "speak in public." and aringo, "public assembly;" which probably has nothing to do with Ringo Starr.

Curiosity, Robonaut2, and being Human


That's a photo of Robonaut2, R2 for short, a NASA/General Motors robot, taken July 28, 2009. The pose reminds me of something from Shakespeare:
"...The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve...."
(Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Prospero; Act 4, Scene 1)
Wrenching myself back on-topic — Nth-generation robonauts may land on Mars before we do, setting up ground facilities before the comparatively fragile humans arrive.

I suppose we could keep sending robots like Curiosity, stay here on Earth, and settle for a second-hand experience. I don't think that's going to happen. Certainly not unless we develop AI that's as good at dealing with the unexpected as we are.

AI, artificial intelligence, has come a long way in the last few decades. But this old quip still seems like a pretty good description of what robots and computers are good for, and one of our strengths —
Computers solve problems involving vast amounts of data, all of which is precisely correct. Humans solve problems involving very little data, most of which is wrong.
As I've said before, humans travel: a lot. (December 12, 2014; July 11, 2014)

Living and Dying on Mars



(From NASA, used w/o permission.)

I had an online conversation with someone who expressed the idea that going to Mars and dying there was a bad idea. My guess is that he was thinking of Mars One, a Netherlands-based outfit that plans to send folks on a one-way trip by 2027.

It's not as bad as it sounds. The idea is that they'll set up a permanent colony on Mars. My guess, and hope, is that Mars One folks are wildly optimistic about how long it will take to develop the necessary technology.

I won't go as far as authorities in United Arab Emirates who issued a fatwa against Muslims taking the trip: because it would be a form of suicide.3

What NASA and other outfits are planning for the immediate future are round trips: traveling to Mars, exploring part of the place, then returning to Earth. I'm pretty sure that we won't have the technical know-how to live there permanently for decades, maybe generations.

The biggest obstacle to settling Mars may be legal, not practical.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1966 says that space exploration should be "for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind."

I very strongly suspect that a few folks will have conniptions when space exploration leads to someone making practical use of Earth's Moon, or Mars, or any place they don't control. Or maybe it'll be because Barsoon Development Ltd is [shudder] making a profit.

I've been over that before. (October 3, 2014)

Getting back to Mars and staying alive: I think taking reasonable precautions to avoid accidental death while exploring, and later settling, other worlds makes sense.

But staying on Earth because eventually someone will die on Mars, or Earth's moon, or someplace else? That does not make sense, not to me. Folks have been living, and dying, on Earth for millions of years. That doesn't mean that we should stop living: on Earth, or elsewhere.

Bear in mind that I'm descended from folks who wound up in central North America: dying very far from humanity's home in eastern Africa.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone like me will eventually have a conversation with someone who thinks leaving the Solar System to die is a bad idea: because folks should live where God intended, in places like Winnipeg, Athabasca, or Gusev City.

And that's yet again another topic. (August 1, 2014)


(Detail of "city night," by molybdenumgp03, used w/o permission.)

Looking back, around, and ahead:
1 Background:
2 2 Samuel 7:28; Psalms 119:90; John 14:6; Catechism, 215-217)

3 Suicide is a bad idea and we shouldn't do it — no, Catholics are not supposed to believe that folks who kill themselves automatically go to Hell. (Catechism, 2280-2283)

Suicide is a very personal topic for me, in part because I've experienced the impulse. (December 14, 2014)

More about suicide and dealing with depression:
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Friday, January 1, 2016

On Mars by 2040?

Robots have orbited Mars, landed there, driven around, taken pictures, and studied Martian rocks.

But humanity's exploration of Mars has been by proxy: Nobody's gotten farther from Earth than Lunar orbit.

That could change before 2040. NASA has worked out a step-by-step plan for getting humans back into deep space: provided that Congress doesn't change its mind.

Even if that happens, my guess is that it wouldn't be long before someone else decides that people should act like humans.
  1. To Mars: Step by Step
  2. Schiaparelli, Barsoom, and Life on Mars

Science, Mars,and Faith



(From NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team; used w/o permission.)

Mars? Robots? Deep space missions? In a religious blog?

Putting science, bingo, or anything else, at the top of my priority list, would be a bad idea. That's where God belongs. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2112-2114)

However — my faith does not require ignorance.

The universe is packed with wonders that we're only now beginning to find. Scientific discoveries are opportunities for "even greater admiration" of God's greatness. (Catechism, 283)

I think the universe follows knowable rules: which means we can learn how it works. This is okay. We're supposed to study this universe, and use what we learn. (Catechism, 32; 339, 2292, 2295)

Then there's the search for extraterrestrial life, and I've been over that before. Fairly often. (December 18, 2015; August 7, 2015; July 31, 2015)

1. To Mars: Step by Step



(From NASA, used w/o permission.)
(Infographic outlining NASA's plans for Martian exploration.)
"NASA Releases Plan Outlining Next Steps in the Journey to Mars"
Stephanie Schierholz, NASA press release (October 8, 2015)

"NASA is leading our nation and the world on a journey to Mars, and Thursday the agency released a detailed outline of that plan in its report, 'NASA's Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration.'

" 'NASA is closer to sending American astronauts to Mars than at any point in our history,' said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. 'Today, we are publishing additional details about our journey to Mars plan and how we are aligning all of our work in support of this goal. In the coming weeks, I look forward to continuing to discuss the details of our plan with members of Congress, as well as our commercial and our international and partners, many of whom will be attending the International Astronautical Congress next week.'

"The plan can be read online at:

"http://go.nasa.gov/1VHDXxg...

"...Future Mars missions will represent a collaborative effort between NASA and its partners—a global achievement that marks a transition in humanity's expansion as we go to Mars to seek the potential for sustainable life beyond Earth...."
NASA described the three steps toward folks walking on Mars:
  • Earth Reliant exploration
    • Mostly research on the International Space Station
  • Proving Ground
    • Deep space operations
      • No more than a few days from Earth
      • Mostly near Earth's moon
  • Earth Independent
    • Deep space operations
      • Beyond Earth's moon, possibly
        • Low Mars orbit
        • Martian moons
        • Eventually landing on Mars
We're closer to having someone on Mars now than we were a year ago: but there's still a lot left to learn, and technology to develop. My guess is that the biggest challenges will be developing life support systems that will keep working for years.

Using today's propulsion tech, it takes very roughly eight and a half months to get from Earth to Mars, or Mars to Earth. Getting back takes about the same time, but the crew has to wait for Mars and Earth to be in the right positions. ("#21d Flight to Mars: the Return Trip," NASA)

That gives them about one and a quarter years to look around, collect samples, and keep their equipment in good working order.

Field Tests: Asteroids and Robots



(From NASA, used w/o permission.)
"NASA's Journey to Mars"
Gary Daines, NASA (December 1, 2014)

"NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s – goals outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010.

"Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet's history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth?...

"...Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we'll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA's powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these 'proving ground' missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown...."
Sending "...a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon..." — that sort of thing was 'science fiction' in my youth.

'The sky's the limit' doesn't mean quite what it used to. I've discussed asteroid mining, lawyers, and extinction events, before. (January 16, 2015; October 3, 2014)

I'm pretty sure NASA will pick a small asteroid with an orbit that takes it near Earth: but that's still impressive. 'Parking' the asteroid in lunar orbit will be a good field test for Mars mission equipment.

How loud the sound and fury over moving an asteroid closer to Earth will get — that's another topic.

2. Schiaparelli, Barsoom, and Life on Mars



(From Giovanni Schiaparelli, via NASA and Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Giovanni Schiaparelli's Martian map, complied between 1877 and 1886. He named the canali (channels) after Earth's rivers.)
"Is there life on Mars?"
Pallab Ghosh, BBC News (October 2, 2015)

"For more than a century, people have speculated about whether there is life on Mars. Within five years we may have an answer.

"In the late 19th Century, the American astronomer Percival Lowell thought he saw canals on the surface of Mars.

"He suggested that this was evidence that our near planetary neighbour might not only harbour life, but could possibly be home to an advanced civilisation.

"This fired the public's imagination - prompting HG Wells's novel, The War of the Worlds, several comics and numerous Hollywood science fiction films depicting Martian invasions...."
We've learned a lot about Mars since Giovanni Schiaparelli's work got mis-translated into English. I've talked about Mars, perceptions, Percival Lowell, Barsoom, and all that, before, too. (October 30, 2015; January 2, 2015; Apathetic Lemming of the North March 14, 2009))

A half-century ago last July, Mariner 4 sent back pictures of a cratered Mars.

Years later, after Mariner 9, Mars 2, and Mars 3 went into orbit around Mars — and a planet-wide dust storm cleared — we saw craters: and what looked like river channels.

Now it looks like life could have started on Mars. Whether it did, and whether critters still live there: that's something we haven't learned yet. (October 30, 2015)

Then there's the matter of defining "life," and that's yet another topic.

More about Mars and life in the universe:
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Thursday, December 24, 2015

SpaceX, Mars, and Someday the Stars

First of all: Merry Christmas! I'll have something more seasonally-appropriate ready by Sunday. That's the plan, at least.

Today I'll be talking about spaceships, practical and otherwise: and why NASA cancelled InSight's March 2016 launch.
  1. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Cargo Runs
  2. InSight Launch Delayed — and Robots
This post is less rigidly organized than many of mine, which is saying something.

Instead of trying to analyze the reasons, I'll just get started with the December 1938 issue of Amazing Stories, Columbus, Robert Goddard, the Hanseatic League, and why airlines don't use disposable airplanes — not necessarily in that order.

Imagining, and Building, Spaceships


Rocket engines don't have spark plugs, and the tiny hydrogen/oxygen fuel tanks seem barely adequate for attitude thrusters.

But the "Space Ship of 2038," in December 1938's Amazing Stories isn't as wildly far-fetched as it looks.

We do use hydrogen and oxygen as 'rocket fuel,' and whoever wrote this piece realized that getting into space would take more energy than 1930s-era technology could provide.

Make that technology in common use. Scientists and engineers, inspired in part by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's 1903 publication, were working the bugs out of liquid-propellant rockets.

Robert Goddard's 1926 test flight lasted two and a half seconds and landed in a cabbage patch: but was a big deal because the thing actually flew.

Alcubierre's metric, published in 1994, is an intriguing solution to Einstein's field equations. The White-Juday warp-field interferometer test results were "inconclusive."

But the last I heard, some physicists say a 'warp drive' based on Alcubierre's math is impossible, others say it'd be dangerous, and still others are tweaking the numbers to get power requirements down to something achievable.

I'd be astonished if the first interstellar ship is built in my lifetime. But I'd be a bit surprised if it's not built during the next millennium. (August 14, 2015; October 3, 2014)

Today, though, we're still getting the cost of hauling cargo and people to and from Earth orbit down to something affordable.

Faith, Fear, and Being Human


These days, fears that the telephone was destroying civilization — I am not making that up — are old hat. (January 25, 2014)

Today's trend-conscious worrywarts are in anguish over GMOs and climate change. My take is that any technology, including fire and string, can be dangerous if we don't use our brains. (December 4, 2015; March 6, 2015; December 5, 2014)

I keep running into the notion that Christians oppose science, and thinking in general; and are against any tech invented after the mid-19th century. I also run into a few Christians who seem determined to support that stereotype.

I've discussed St. Thomas Aquinas, artificial intelligence, robots, and getting a grip about technology, before. (June 12, 2015)

Like I keep saying, Using the brains God gave us is part of being human. (Wisdom 7:17; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 35, 159, 1730-1738)

We're rational creatures, created in the image of God, who are "little less than a god:" with the power and frightening responsibilities that come with our nature. (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7; Psalms 8:6; Catechism, 355-373, 2402, 2415-2418, 2456)

We can use our ability to reason for good or ill. It's our decisions that make a difference. (Catechism, 35-39, 1704-1707, 1950-1960)

Using reason, we can see God's work in the universe. Studying this world is okay: scientific discoveries are invitations "to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator." (Catechism, 35-36, 282-289, 1704, 2292-2295)

1. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Cargo Runs



(From Reuters, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("The upgraded, 23-storey-tall rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station"
(BBC News))
"SpaceX rocket in historic upright landing"
(December 22, 2015)

"US company SpaceX has successfully landed an unmanned rocket upright, after sending 11 satellites into orbit.

"The Falcon-9 craft touched down late on Monday night, about 10km from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

"It is not the first spacecraft to land a booster vertically; that feat was claimed by the much smaller New Shepard rocket in Texas last month...."
This is a big deal, and I'll get back to why that's so.

New Shepard is Blue Origin's suborbital system: a booster that lifts a crew capsule and lands vertically; and a crew capsule that separates from the booster and deploys a parachute. It flew on April 29. 2015, reaching 93.5 kilometer/58.14 miles/307,000 feet, and reached Mach 3. (Wikipedia, SpaceNews.com)

They got the crew capsule back in one piece, but the booster developed engine trouble. Blue Origin tried again on November 23, 2015. Both units worked that time, after getting to 100.5 kilometers. (Wikipedia)


(From Blue Origin, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("The New Shepard rocket lives to fly another day"
(BBC News))

That's rather impressive, and an important step in Blue Origins development tests. But it's not getting cargo into orbit.

SpaceX has been handling cargo runs to the International Space Station since 2012, using its Falcon 9 booster and Dragon orbiter. The SpaceX system, like the planned Blue Origin orbital system, is only partly reusable. But both are a step in that direction.

I put a 'backgrounder' link list at the end of this post: to Wikipedia pages about efforts to make spaceflight practical; and my blog posts, giving my take on why it matters.1

Spaceships and History



(From SpaceX, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"SpaceX rocket in historic upright landing"
(December 22, 2015)

"...Nonetheless the Falcon-9 flight, which also went twice as high as New Shepard, is a milestone towards reusing rockets.

"SpaceX aims to slash the cost of private space operations with such reusable components - but the company has not launched a rocket since one exploded in June.

"On that occasion an unmanned Falcon-9 broke apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, with debris tumbling out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean...."
Some national governments can afford to build spaceships like the ones that made history a half-century back: Sputnik 1, Explorer 1, Vostok 1, and Apollo 11.

My guess is that if the Cold War hadn't been in progress, we might be working the bugs out of reusable spaceships today, with the first orbital flight still a few decades off.

Instead, the Soviet Union and United States designed and built increasingly large disposable rockets: leading to the N1 and Saturn V. That made sense, sort of, at the time: but it's no way to run a spaceline.

Think about it: how long would the airline industry last, if companies had to throw away an Airbus, 787, or Tu-204, after each flight?

Things were different, five and a quarter centuries back, when Spain's government had three Mediterranean cargo ships refitted for open-ocean sailing.

They'd have gotten the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, back: if the Santa Maria's steersman hadn't decided to take a nap. I don't know what happened to him, and that's another topic.

I'm also not sure why Spain didn't use ships like the Hanseatic League's Peter von Danzig: the von Danzig had been decommissioned by then, but at least some Europeans were building large ships designed for Atlantic voyages near their coasts.

I've mentioned the Hanseatic League before: there's nothing quite like it today, and that's yet another topic. (August 21, 2015)

2. InSight Launch Delayed — and Robots



(From NASA/JPL-Caltech, used w/o permission.)
("This artist's concept depicts the stationary NASA Mars lander known by the acronym InSight at work studying the interior of Mars."
(NASA/JPL-Caltech))
"NASA Suspends 2016 Launch of InSight Mission to Mars, Media Teleconference Today"
NASA/JPL-Caltech (December 22, 2015)

"After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload.

" 'Learning about the interior structure of Mars has been a high priority objective for planetary scientists since the Viking era,' said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 'We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we're not ready to launch in the 2016 window. A decision on a path forward will be made in the coming months, but one thing is clear: NASA remains fully committed to the scientific discovery and exploration of Mars.'

"The instrument involved is the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), a seismometer provided by France's Centre National d'?tudes Spatiales (CNES. Designed to measure ground movements as small as the diameter of an atom, the instrument requires a vacuum seal around its three main sensors to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment...."
NASA has a pretty good Introduction to the InSight program. Basically, the InSight lander is a robotic geology field station.

That's why everything has to be in good working order before launch. Robotics and artificial intelligence has come a long way since my youth: but artificial intelligence still isn't all that smart, not for tasks that are simple for a human.

We're bit closer to having robots like C-3PO and R2-D2.

But AI that's up to doing in-flight repairs? Robots are still doing well to avoid falling over when using a drill. (August 22, 2014; June 12, 2015; August 15, 2014)

That's yet again another topic, and so are these posts:
1 Making spaceflight practical:
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Friday, December 11, 2015

Ceres, Pluto: There's More to Learn

That's part of a picture from New Horizons: a sample from the highest-resolution images the spacecraft has started sending back.

We're pretty sure that the mountains are frozen water, and the flat parts softer "ice:" probably including frozen nitrogen.

The first journal paper using New Horizons' flyby data was published in October: but there's a great deal left to study, and even more still stored on New Horizons. (November 13, 2015)

Other scientists think they've found evidence that those bright spots in Occator Crater are frozen water, exposed when something hit Ceres. If they're right, the impact happened recently. I'll get back to that.
  1. Bright Spots on Ceres: Icy Divots?
  2. Highest-Resolution Images of Pluto
  3. A Mile-High Cliff and Plutonian Badlands

(From NASA/APL/Southwest Research Institute, used w/o permission.)
(New Horizons position at 0300 UTC December 11, 2015/1900 Central Time December 10, 2015 (CT))

Maps and History



(From JPL/NASA, used w/o permission.)
(Map of Pluto, showing unofficial names used by the New Horizons team. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) hasn't decided what the official names will be.)


(From JPL/NASA, used w/o permission.)
(Part of the same map, large enough to read the names. We've gotten a closer look at the al-Idrisi Montes, and other areas.)

We've developed naming conventions for features on other planets. One mountain is a mons, a mountain range is a montes: so the al-Idrisi Montes are the al-Idrisi Mountains. If you thought "al-Idrisi" doesn't sound British, you'd be right.

I gather that the mountain range bordering Sputnik Planum is named after Muhammad al-Idrisi, an Almoravid explorer who lived about nine centuries back. He was born in Ceuta, an urban peninsula on Morocco's northeast coast.

Over the last couple dozen centuries, it's been run by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, the Byzantine Empire and assorted other folks. Spain is in possession at the moment, and a millennium from now it'll most likely be in other hands.

The Almoravid dynasty was running Ceuta in al-Idrisi's day, which may or may not be why he lived at the court of Sicily's Roger II in Plaermo for much of his adult life.

Roger was a Norman: the same lot that conquered England about a thousand years back. They're still in charge there, more or less. Normans are, or were, French-speaking Vikings: and that's another topic.

Getting back to al-Idrisi, he's chiefly known for a collection of maps, the Tabula Rogeriana, and Nuzhat al-Mushtaq, a compendium of geographical information and maps.

Depending on who you read, Nuzhat al-Mushtaq's title translates as "The book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands," or "The pleasure of him who longs to cross the horizons."

Folks on the New Horizons liked the second translation, which apparently is why they named a mountain range after him. ("Pluto Name Bank Proposal 2015-07-07," via docs.google.com)

Reviewing stuff I'd written about Pluto, I found several posts about Pluto and extraterrestrial life: real and imagined. (July 31, 2015; July 24, 2015; July 10, 2015)

Frank R. Paul's Pluto People, Faith, and Science


(From Frank R. Paul, via Fabio Feminò and David S. Zondy, used w/o permission.)
(Frank R. Paul's very-imaginary people on Pluto, 1930s.)

If you've read these posts before, you know why I'm not upset that we're learning more about this wonder-filled universe. Go ahead: skip down to Bright Spots on Ceres: Icy Divots?, go for a walk, get some coffee; or keep reading. I'll try to be brief.

Faith, in the Catholic sense, is not reason: but it's not unreasonable. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159)

Since I believe that the things of faith come from God, that God created the world, and is Truth — fearing knowledge of God's world would be illogical.

Truth cannot contradict truth. (Catechism, 156-159)

Studying this astounding creation is part of being human. (Catechism, 159, 2293-2295)
Scientific discoveries are invitations "...to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator...." (Catechism, 283, 341)

The Catholic Church's view of science makes sense, since we're told that truth is very important. (Catechism, Prologue, 27, 74, more under Truth in the index)

Seeking truth and seeking God are compatible. So are faith and reason. (Catechism, 35, 50, 154, 274, 1706)

More about science and getting a grip:

1. Bright Spots on Ceres: Icy Divots?



(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("The Occator Crater has the most impressive collection of bright spots"
(BBC News))
"Explanation for Ceres' mystery bright spots"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (December 9, 2015)

"It has been the big Solar System mystery of 2015 - what are the bright spots on Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?

"Scientists think they now have some answers.

"They are places where impacts have excavated a briny layer of water-ice under the dwarf planet's surface, the researchers tell the journal Nature.

"And the very brightest features are the youngest, freshest exposures...."
I've talked about Ceres and Dawn, the first spacecraft to orbit two asteroids or planets other than Earth, before. (September 4, 2015; March 13, 2015)

Occator Crater's bright spots weren't the first mystery about what's on and in Ceres. It's nowhere near as dense as it should be. Ceres' density is roughly 2 (2.16) grams per cubic centimeter: compared to about 3.4 grams per cubic centimeter for Vesta, and 5.5 for Earth.

Water vapor observed near Ceres suggested that quite a bit of it might be water. (January 24, 2014)

That's why scientists suggested that the bright spots might be water ice: maybe from a water 'volcano,' more likely a divot from a recent impact. But thinking they might be water ice, and having evidence to back up the idea, aren't the same thing.

I'll be back, after two images from NASA, JPL, UCLA, MPS, DLR, and IDA. That's a lot of acronyms. IDA may stand for for Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute, Iterative deepening A*, which doesn't make sense in this context — or something else.


(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, used w/o permission.)
("...This view is a composite of two images of Occator: one using a short exposure that captures the detail in the bright spots, and one where the background surface is captured at normal exposure...."
(Martin Perez, NASA))


(From NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA, via JPL-Caltech, used w/o permission.)
(Occator Crater on Ceres. A slight haze form over the crater's bright spots when sunlight heats the area. The haze is visible when Occator is very near the horizon, as in this image from Dawn.)

The science team had programmed the Dawn's cameras for picture-taking of Ceres' generally-dark surface. That's why the Occator Crater bright spots looked like they were glowing in early images:
"...'We said, 'Wow! What's that? We didn't expect this,' recalls Andreas Nathues, the camera's principal investigator.

" 'The reflectivity is in the order of 0.25, which means about 25% of the light is reflected; and in the inner core centre [of the Occator spot collection] it's even more - up to 50-60% of the light is reflected; while the remaining surface is rather dark - the average is about 9%,' said the scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Goettingen, Germany...."
(Jonathan Amos, BBC News)
Some of the other bright spots are about the right brightness to be magnesium sulfate, Epsom salt, but water ice is the best bet for the Occator spots. It's not just how bright they are: if they're exposed water ice, the water would be sublimating, turning directly to gas, escaping into space and taking bits of dust with it.

Sure enough, there's a slight haze over the spots when sunlight hits them: not much, but enough to see when Occator is near the horizon. If they're water ice, exposed when something hit Ceres recently, they'll be fading as the ice sublimates.

2. Highest-Resolution Images of Pluto



(From NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI, used w/o permission.)
("The Mountainous Shoreline of Sputnik Planum: In this highest-resolution image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, great blocks of Pluto's water-ice crust appear jammed together in the informally named al-Idrisi mountains...."
(NASA))
"New Horizons Returns First of the Best Images of Pluto"
Tricia Talbert, NASA (December 4, 2015)

"NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sent back the first in a series of the sharpest views of Pluto it obtained during its July flyby – and the best close-ups of Pluto that humans may see for decades.

"Each week the piano-sized New Horizons spacecraft transmits data stored on its digital recorders from its flight through the Pluto system on July 14. These latest pictures are part of a sequence taken near New Horizons' closest approach to Pluto, with resolutions of about 250-280 feet (77-85 meters) per pixel - revealing features less than half the size of a city block on Pluto's diverse surface. In these new images, New Horizons captured a wide variety of cratered, mountainous and glacial terrains. ..."
Pluto isn't particularly dense, either: 1.87 grams per cubic centimeter, on average; compared to Ceres' 2.16.

That's enough to compress its interior to a solid — or liquid. Scientists figure the planet/dwarf planet/Kuiper belt object/whatever had enough radioactive elements in the original mix to heat the interior: at least for a while.

That would have allowed heavy materials to sink, giving Pluto a layered interior.

Crunching the numbers, they came up with an educated guess about what's inside Pluto: a rocky core; surrounded by water ice, and maybe liquid water if the core's still warm enough; then mostly frozen nitrogen on top.

That's an educated guess, though. There's a great deal left to learn: like what pushed up those mountains, what's eroding them, and exactly what are they made of?

3. A Mile-High Cliff and Plutonian Badlands



(From NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI, used w/o permission.)
"Pluto's 'Badlands' "
Tricia Talbert, NASA (December 4, 2015)

"This highest-resolution image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft shows how erosion and faulting has sculpted this portion of Pluto’s icy crust into rugged badlands. The prominent 1.2-mile-high cliff at the top, running from left to upper right, is part of a great canyon system that stretches for hundreds of miles across Pluto’s northern hemisphere. New Horizons team members think that the mountains in the middle are made of water ice, but have been modified by the movement of nitrogen or other exotic ice glaciers over long periods of time..."
We know more about Pluto than we did before the New Horizons flyby, but as I said: there's a great deal left to learn, like why part of Pluto's northern hemisphere looks so much like Triton.

There's the matter of deciding what names get assigned to Plutonian features, too. I talked about names, the IAU, donuts, and Dublin, in another post. (July 24, 2015)

About Pluto's al-Idrisi mountains, names, and vaguely-related topics — I did that, too. Right.

Next, a link list for stuff you don't need — or maybe want — to know about Pluto. I recommend the JPL/NASA piece, though: it includes a slightly-spectacular mosaic of images, from Pluto's horizon to Sputnik Planum, that may have another name by this time next year:
More about Pluto, Ceres, and being human:
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From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.