Join NASA’s return to the Moon by sending yourself to the Moon!
Alright, it’s just your name. 
Just sumbit your name to the website below, you’ll be given a certificate to show your support of the mission. The names will be collected and placed onboard the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) spacecraft.
LRO’s objectives are to find safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology. This will be a historic mission.
The deadline of submission of names is 28 June 2008.
http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/
22nd April, a day to be remembered, today is Earth Day.
The mother earth is undergoing disastrous changing. It’s obvious enough that everyone of us can feel it. For instance, the climate warming strongly affected the crops, which in return we have to pay for 20% more. Now, we pay back for what we had done to the earth.
My hosting service provider - Exabytes emailed me some interesting way to keep the earth green. Read them here.
The earth scientists at JPL, NASA also have some words.
Continue reading ‘Earth Day - Every Day Is Earth Day’
STS-122 Crew Ready To Launch
STS-122 mission is to deliever the Columbus, the European Space Agency’s new laboratory. Columbus will be installed on Harmony Node 2 which was delivered by the STS-120 mission. Harmony allows the addition of European laboratory (Columbus) and Japanese laboratory (Kibo) which will be transfered during STS-123.
The weather is not that great as forecasted so their chance to lift off is 30%. They’re going to launch on 8 Feb 2007 at 7:45pm UT. Good luck to them!
Did I mention that the every crew’s badge is so nicely designed?
More mission information at NASA
In the next 20 years, NASA will be laying the groundwork for sending humans not only beyond Earth’s orbit, but further into to space than they’ve ever been. The next key steps are:
- Complete the International Space Station and retire the Space Shuttle by 2010
- Begin robotic missions to the moon by 2008 and return people there by 2020
- Continue robotic exploration of Mars and the Solar System
- Develop a crew exploration vehicle and other technologies required to send people beyond low Earth orbit.
Though nearly 50 years old, NASA is only beginning the most exciting part of its existence.
Source:NASA
The STS-117 crew is going to leave the launch pad in 4 hours’ time. The good news is the weather forecast shows that there is only 20% chance that the weather will affect the launch. So, they’ll most probably leave on 8 June 07 at 2338 UT.
Continue reading ‘STS-117 Crew Is Good to Go’
Yes, the previous launch was delayed due to the poor weather condition. A cold front moved in over the spaceport, bringing clouds and winds into the area. The cloud ceiling proved to be too low for a safe launch, prompting NASA to postpone Discovery’s flight. The next scheduled launch is 0947 UT, 10 December 2006.
Today, it’s the 33rd launch for Discovery. You’ll be able to watch the live launching of Discovery at NASA. This is the second night time launch after Columbia.
Their mission, STS-116, is to rewire the International Space Station. Since it went into orbit in 1998, the space station has been running on a temporary electrical system. After the installation of two new solar array panels in September, all the pieces are now in place to switch to the permanent system.
If the devices failed to operate after the power switching procedure, they will have to try to fix them before their time is running out. Worst comes to worst, they have to restore everything back to the previous state.
Launch Time: 0935 UT+8, 8 December 2006
Yes, Michael Griffin has announed that Hubble Space Telescope will have its Service Mission 4 (SM4), the final SM, in 2008. It will be giving stunning discoveries again with the latest scientific instruments.
New batteries will be installed during this mission. The capacity of the olds are degraded and cannot work for 2 to 3 more years. Thermal blankets protecting it against the harsh environment of space will be installed as well. Don’t forget the almost broken down gyroscopes. Some of the current are dead and it is running on the backup gyroscopes. These are the basic equipments for it to function properly. Now, we go to the astronomical instruments.
One of the three fine-guidiance sensors will be replaced to improve its ability to track faint guide stars and measure stellar positions with greater accuracy. The Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph are the Hubble’s new guns. These two powerful instruments will push its ability to the peak. The astronauts will try to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. It has stopped operating since 2 years ago when a power supply failed.
Good luck to all the astronauts and staffs joinning this service mission. Did I mention that HST is as old as I am?
The Atlantis crew reached Kennedy Space Center at 18:21 on 21 September 2006. What have they done? P3 & P4 solar truss segments have been installed to the Internation Space Station. This was done in 3 spacewalks.
Now, ISS has more 60 kilowatts power to consume. Do you want it to be equipped with your future “orbital house”? It’s such a waste that they can actually generate power for 30 average homes, based on comsumption of 2 kilowatts each.
To learn more about the P3 & P4 solar truss segments, please visit NASA.
Atlantis lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center beautifully. Experienced Aug. 27 and 29 and Sept. 3 and 8 weather and technical problems, Atlantis finally flies into the space. Docking to the International Space Station is slated to take place at 6:46 p.m. Monday.
Just in case you have forgotten, they are going to install the P3/P4 integrated truss and a second set of solar arrays on the space station, doubling the station’s current ability to generate power from sunlight. However, this adds 17.5 tons to its mass.
This is one of the most challenging space mission ever since the mission of component adding to the ISS 4 years ago.
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