6 Ton NASA Satellite Falling From the Sky

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), credit NASA MSFC

Sometime near Friday, September 23, 2011, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will crash back to Earth.  UARS helped to define the role of the upper atmosphere in climate and climate variability, by measuring ozone and chemical compounds found in the ozone layer which affect ozone chemistry and processes.  UARS also helped characterize winds and temperatures in the stratosphere as well as the energy input from the Sun.  All of these helped better understand our upper atmosphere and Earth's climate.


It turns out that the this huge satellite may have some pieces which reach ground level.  Sounds exciting!  Don't touch though.  Space.com ran an article about how FEMA is on alert for any issues.  You can read it: FEMA Prepared for Dead NASA Satellite's Plunge to Earth This Week.

From the article, 

Numerically speaking it comes out to a chance of 1 in 3,200 that one person anywhere in the world might be struck by a piece of debris. "So those are actually, obviously, very, very low odds that anything — anybody is going to be impacted by this debris," Johnson added.

Pretty small odds indeed... unless you are the person that gets hit... actually, I think that seems like very large odds.  Given that 2/3 of the planet is covered by water, that number seems ridiculously high... anyone else have any thoughts about it?

EDIT: Thought I would update the article with my comment below in case someone doesn't read the comment.  The 1 in 3200 is integrated over the entire world population.  The odds for any individual is 1 in 2.1E13 or 1 in 21 Trillion.  Very small odd indeed.

NASA names new fellowship after prominent female astrophysicist

Yesterday, I received the following announcement in my inbox:

ROSES-11 Amendment 23: New proposal opportunity: Appendix D.9,  The Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship (RTF) Program in  Astrophysics

A new NASA program, The Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship Program in Astrophysics, is named after a very a very distinguished American astronomer. Nancy Grace Roman's celebrated career included multiple scientific and technical achievements at NASA and her important contributions to the design of the Hubble Space Telescope.

From the announcement:

The goals of the Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship (RTF) program in Astrophysics are to give early career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instruments/projects and become principal investigators (PIs) of future astrophysics missions; to develop innovative technologies that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs; and to foster new talent by putting early-career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions.

This is a 5 year fellowship, which is the most substantial NASA astrophysics fellowship to date, compared to the typical 2-3 year awards that have previously existed.


This is really great news for Astrophysics.  Why?  First it is a new early career fellowship - these are very important to those of us just starting out in our careers.  Second, it is named after a woman.  This matters.  Celebrating brilliant women in physics helps future female physicists know that they are welcome to the field.  Physics is truly lacking in equal participation by women and we are missing a key source of intelligence, brilliance, and creativity in our field by not having equal participation by women.  So, thank you NASA!

Pluto's New Moon

Researchers using the Hubble telescope have discovered a previously unknown moon of Pluto.  The new mini-satellite has an estimated diameter of 13-34 km (8-21 miles), which is truly very small.  By contrast, Earth's moon has a diameter of approximately 3500 km. The new moon is being initially called P4.

From the NASA science news article:

The dwarf planet’s entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system. The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto. 

"This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubble's ability as a general purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding, unintended discoveries," said Jon Morse, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28. It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18. The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter. There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images, but was overlooked because it was obscured.

The Hubble Space Telescope is such a great instrument.  It is capable of such a great amount of observations and has really revolutionized our understanding of the our solar system and galaxy.  It has also been utilized as a great science outreach tool.  The vast majority of the beautiful pictures of space floating around the internet are courtesy of Hubble. See some of them here: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble.

The Hubble will eventually fall out of orbit, due mainly to atmospheric drag, sometime between 2019 and 2032.  The large range is due to the uncertainty of how active the Sun will be, which effects the amount of drag on the satellite.

The James Webb Space Telescope is was set to succeed Hubble in the next decade or so.  However, the current budget situation in the US, it is on the chopping block.  I am not too optimistic that the project will survive. 

NASA News - Shuttle Leaves ISS, Vesta Pictures, Happy Birthday John Glenn

Lots of NASA news on the table today.

STS-135 Mission Patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis

First off, the Space Shuttle Atlantis detached from the ISS early this morning (2:38 am EDT) for its final voyage home to Earth. This was the 135th space shuttle mission, named STS-135. STS stands for Space Transport System. In 30 years, the shuttle program has taken 355 astronauts into space. It is a sad moment.

Dawn Mission and Vesta

NASA's Dawn mission was launched 27 September 2007 with the overall mission to study the asteroid belt and help characterize the early solar system.  To accomplish this task, the Dawn spacecraft will observe the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.  Ceres is by far the largest object in the asteroid belt and may have a weak atmosphere with the possibility of frozen water on the surface.  Water means the possibility of life.

Vesta as seen from Dawn on July 17, 2011.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/
UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Vesta is the 2nd largest object in the asteroid belt behind Ceres.  It is thought to be a remnant protoplanet with a differential interior.  This means the interior of Vesta is thought to partially liquid.  At 05:00 UTC on July 16, Dawn inserted into orbit around Vesta.  On July 17, 2011 the above picture "was taken from a distance of about 9,500 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 0.88 miles (1.4 kilometers)." [quote from JPL website.] Very cool!


John Glenn's 90th Birthday

The former Marine Corps pilot, senator and astronaut turned 90 yesterday.  Famous for being the first astronaut to orbit Earth, he also logged over 200 hours in space and holds the record for being the oldest person to fly in space.  Happy Birthday Senator Glenn!

Final Shuttle Flight - Atlantis

Space Shuttle Atlantis' final voyage - STS-135

On the July 8, 2011 the final space shuttle mission took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  It is the end of an era.  Never again will the world watch as a shuttle launches into space.  It really is sad.

You know what is even more sad?  The federal government spent $20.2 Billion on air conditioning for our two war efforts every year.  That is more than NASA's entire annual budget (approx $19 Billion).  The shuttle program is dead with no replacement imminent.  So very, very sad.  Yes, the US government spends more on air conditioning in desert wars than on NASA.  I have discussed NASA's budget relative to the rest of the federal government in a previous post: The Federal Budget, NASA and Science Funding. 

There has also been some chatter on the 'net and news agencies of the issue of some space junk hitting the space station.  As it turns out, the space junk will pose no threat to the ISS or the docked spacecraft.   From the space.com article:

"Mission Control has verified that the track of a piece of orbital debris will not be a threat to the International Space Station and space shuttle Atlantis," agency officials said in a statement. "No adjustments to the docked spacecraft’s orbit will be necessary to avoid the debris."

So, there it is.  ISS is safe.  Atlantis is docked and safe.  Last shuttle flight, ever.

But, don't despair too much.  I don't think manned space exploration will end.  I hope it won't anyway.

NASA Space-based Images of Alabama Tornadoes

A combination of Visible and IR data of the EF-4 tornado track through Alabama.  Vegetation appears as pink, while teal shows the absence of Vegetation.  The giant swath going from lower left to upper right was the EF-4 tornado.

In an attempt to help the victims of the Alabama tornadoes, NASA has been investigating using its network of Earth sensing satellites to help define areas affected by tornadoes.  This is the first time NASA has attempted to use this specific instrument, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), to characterize tornado damage.  The picture above is a combination of a visible image and an infrared (IR) image.  The combination helps to define areas affected by determining where there is live vegetation.  This is especially useful in remote and rural areas.

Why would they be interested in doing this?  Well, it turns out that insurance companies use the National Weather Service data to determine whether or not someone has been effected by severe weather.  If you are in a remote area, where there may not be a lot of weather stations, your claim may not be accepted as part of the damage from a given storm.  (Or, that is the story I have been told. Someone out there is free to comment and clear up any misunderstanding I may have).  So, next time you might be tempted to think what has NASA, or for that matter Earth science, done to help regular folks, you can think of this story.

Read more about this story here: Unique Space Image of Alabama Tornado Tracks

Alabama Tornadoes - NASA's First Hand Account

Tornado Tracks from the rare EF-5 tornado in late April 2011.  Full size picture link. Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

There is a really great story I found on the Science@NASA website called: A Story from the Tornado Zone.  It is an excellent read.  The author, Dauna Coulter, found herself in the middle of ground zero of the huge storm that spawned dozens of tornadoes as it ripped through Alabama and Mississippi.

Tornado Tracks by EF rating.  Photo Credit: NWS

Most amazing was the EF-5 tornado that traveled through the northwest corner of Alabama. From the article by Dauna Coulter:

"This kind of set up in the atmosphere is extremely rare. We have a number in meteorology called the EHI (Energy Helicity Index)⁴ that indicates the likelihood of tornadoes developing. With an EHI over 2 you can expect some tornadoes. Over 5 and you can expect some significant tornadoes. The EHI predicted by computer models the day before this event was 10, and that prediction was correct."  -UA-Huntsville meteorologist Tim Coleman

 So, what was the science behind this huge, dangerous storm?  Well, the story goes as follows:  A large area of cold air traveled to the southeast out of the Midwest, following a cold front which was associated with a ground level low pressure area.  The low pressure pulled hot, most air up from the Gulf of Mexico area. Remember, fluids flow from high to low pressure. In addition, there were extremely strong winds with strong wind shear above the moist air.  All of this combined to create wind rotation and an increase in speed as the air gained altitude.  This is the exact formula for tornadoes.

Some other links to check out:
- National Severe Storms Laboratory Picture of Rotational Tracks.  This is an amazing picture showing the spatial extent of this storm.  Truly awe-inspiring.

I will add more links as I come across them.

Testing Einstein - NASA's Gravity Probe B confirms relativity

Space-time around the Earth and Gravity Probe B

We are living in exciting times.  The results of the NASA's Gravity Probe B experiment will one day be written up as one of the classic experiments of modern physics.

Gravity Probe B was launched in 2004 to test Einstein's theory of general relativity.  For the non-physicists in the crowd, this was the change to gravity that Einstein introduced.  Gravity was thought to be well understood by simple Newtonian physics.  You through a ball on Earth, it follows a ballistic trajectory explained very simply by college freshman level physics (neglecting atmospheric drag anyway).

Einstein introduced the idea that gravity can simply be described by the geometry of the situation.  It generalizes Newtonian gravity and special relativity (also Einstein's creation) into a geometric description of gravity based upon the idea of spacetime.  Very basically, the curvature of spacetime is directly related the energy and momentum of anything subject to the gravity.  It was revolutionary.  Still is I believe.

Gravity Probe B will test two different effects.

Gravity Probe B was launched to test the effects of Earth's movement, both around the Sun and spinning on its own axis, on the gravitational environment near Earth.  General relativity tells us there should be two different effects seen near Earth: Frame-dragging and Geodetic precesion.

The frame-dragging is due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis.  The geodetic precession is due to the mass of Earth moving through spacetime.

Through some very impressive engineering the Gravity Probe B satellite uses spinning gyroscopes to measure the two effects.  The team who developed the experiment needed to do invent and develop some serious equipment to perform this experiment.  They invented 13 new technologies for this experiment.

In addition, the precision of this experiment was amazing.  They need to be able to measure the drift of the gyroscopes to a precision of 0.0005 or 5/10000 of an arcsecond.  An arcsecond is 1/3600 degrees.  So, they needed a precision better than 1/7,000,000 of a degree.  Amazing!  Truly Amazing!

Some links of interest:
Gravity Probe B project page
Gravity Probe B wiki page 
NASA Press Release about results

The Federal Budget, NASA and Science Funding

Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-51

NASA has been spared major cuts in the federal budget for 2011.

This means NASA can continue to develop a heavy lift rocket, which they desperately need, since after the shuttle program is retired there will be no native US technology for getting people or cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

In the 2011 federal budget, NASA was given a budget of $18.5 billion.  Seems like a lot, right?  Well let us really break it down compared to the total US budget and some other federal agencies.

Total Budget: $3.69 trillion or $3,690 billion

NASA:               $18.5 billion (0.5% of total budget)
Defense              $738 billion (20% of total budget)
Social Security    $738 billion (20% of total budget)
Health Services   $381 billion (10.3% of total budget)

So, in comparison, NASA's budget is only one half of a percent of the federal budget.  Not even a drop in the bucket.

Overall, the 2011 budget was very kind to science.  The National Institute of Health saw a budget increase of about 3%.  The National Science Foundation saw an 8% increase.  The Department of Energy science programs saw a 4.5% increase.  Note, all these increases are relative to 2010.

I was very pleasantly surprised.

Links for data on the budget:
I took numbers from this NY Times graph. And the Washington Post also has a nice graphic.
Note: There are differences between how NYT and WP define different spending programs.  It is hard to reconcile the two.

NASA and Love

Just in time for Valentine's Day, NASA posted a fun little picture on their NASA Image of the Day page.  Nothing says geek love like a giant ring of black holes!  Let the awesome geek jokes about black hole rings commence!

NASA Aeronautics News

In a bill before the Senate this week, a proposed change to the long standing leadership of NASA in the area of aeronautics has died. The initial bill had language which would transfer the leadership of aeronautics research in the US from NASA to the FAA.

An amendment passed with a vote of 96-1 to drop the language concerning aeronautics research from the bill and keep NASA in charge of aeronautics research in the US.

I view this as a smart move. Why add more bureaucracy to an already extremely bureaucratic issue? Well done Senate.