OF SPECIAL INTEREST
Jim Green is At It Again! Mars Sample Return
My über-boss during my stint at NASA a decade ago was Jim Green. A fine leader, scientist, and gentleman, revered by all who know him. He retired as Chief Scientist at NASA a while back, but still is coming up with interesting ideas.
You may recall that NASA is having difficulty acquiring sufficient funds for a Mars Sample Return mission, that would pick up the samples Perseverance has been acquiring during its roving at Jezero Crater. NASA had issued a Request for Information in mid-April, looking for innovative ideas to get the samples to Earth more economically. On May 8, Jim gave a talk at the Explore Mars 2024 Humans to Mars Summit conference in Houston. Jim presented a mission concept during his talk that would involve a single SLS launch that would deliver a 44,000-pound payload to Mars, comprising an inflatable descent aero shell, a propulsive descent module, a two-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle, a rover to collect the samples, and a sample encapsulation system.
For more on this really interesting development, see: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/mars-sample-return-option-emerges-2024-humans-mars-summit.
General Aviation Over DC: Quoting from the AVweb website: “About 60 general aviation aircraft will close Reagan National Airport for an hour and go where none have gone for decades May 11 (May 12 weather day) when the National Celebration of General Aviation DC Flyover takes place over the seat of government. The aircraft, chosen to represent the roles and eras of GA since 1939, will commemorate the first proclamation of Aviation Day by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the creation of AOPA 85 years ago. “We want to tell the story of GA,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. Anyone in D.C. will get a great view of the flight from the National Mall area, and for those at home it will be streamed live on AOPA’s YouTube channel with AOPA Live anchor Tom Haines and veteran aviation journalist Miles O’Brien providing commentary starting at 11:45 EDT.
“The aircraft, in 22 different flights, will follow the Potomac River to downtown Washington where they will fly over the National Mall before heading down Independence Ave. They’ll go through airspace that has been closed to anything but military and emergency aircraft since 9/11 and even through the ultra-secure P56 airspace, which has been sealed off for decades. The planes range from antiques to the very newest aircraft, the Piper M700 Fury, which was only certified in March. Recreational, training, amphibious, homebuilt along with military and law enforcement aircraft will be represented. The Titan Aerobatic Team’s formation of four Second World War-era T-6 Texans will provide the finale with a smoke show but without aerobatics.”
I remember the 70th anniversary of V-E Day fly-over, in 2015, with a phalanx of WWII-era planes flying over the edge of the city (images here). It impressed me, and really impressed my WWII-veteran Father-in-Law (an ex-Marine SeaBee)! It also really, really impressed NASM’s then-Director, General Jack Dailey (formerly #2 at both the Marine Corps and also at NASA), who flew in a training P-45’s jump seat in the final wave. Jack had an interesting perspective as his plane pulled up to salute the veterans past with “the Missing Man.”
This event will be impressive, too, for more information about it, see here!
FOLLOW UP: I turned on the news this morning (5/13) when I got up, and was greeted with a very-positive story about the successful overflight on Sunday. Congratulations to all who made it happen!
Heliophysics Big Year: NASA’s Science Mission Directorate comprises four divisions: Astrophysics, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Earth Science. From time to time, a division will institute a year or so long outreach effort. When I was at HQ, the emphasis was on the “Year of the Solar System.” Now, we are in the middle of an 18-month “Heliophysics Big Year.” The upcoming 2024 total Solar eclipse will be the penultimate event of the Big Year. However, the ongoing data from the Parker Solar Probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and other assets make for good engagement material. [Didja know that there are 27 spacecraft in 20 missions in Space right now observing the Sun? Not all of them are NASA’s, but that’s still a lot!]
NASA has posted much information about heliophysics, including the eclipse and a number of citizen science projects, here: https://science.nasa.gov/sun/helio-big-year.
Follow up to the Astronomy in Chile Item of the Week: The June, 2024, issue of Sky & Telescope magazine has two major articles about astronomy in Chile. One is about Walter Baade, who is the namesake for one of the Twin Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory. The other is about the Vera Rubin Observatory and its Simonyi Telescope atop Cerro Pachón. Baade earned the prestigious Bruce Medal in 1955 for his work on supernovae and how they could produce cosmic rays and neutron stars; the article in S&T is on pages 28-33. The Simonyi Telescope is not the largest in Chile by any means, but it will be paired with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera, whose 25-inch diameter focal plane is covered by 189 CCDs of 16 million pixels each! It’s by far the largest digital camera ever built, and will image of the entire sky visible to it, at high resolution, every week. The data will be made available to anyone who wants to use it, enabling a remarkable transformation in how astronomy will be done in the future. For more about it, see pages 34-40.
Requiem for the Delta, and Soon for the Atlas! More than sixty years ago, the US’ first ballistic missile system entered service, the Delta rocket. It’s gone through several iterations and improvements ever since. On April 9, the final launch of any of the Delta family took place at Cape Canaveral SFS, a Delta IV Heavy rocket with a classified payload. United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said of the bittersweet event for the missileers, “Delta has been around in one form or another for 60 years. There was the Thor [intermediate-range ballistic missile], then it was the Delta space launch vehicle. It went through Delta I, II, III into IV, and there were many models . . . and different configurations of Delta rockets. It just has a storied legacy, and it has done great things for our nation.”
The use of the Atlas missile family is also coming to an end; only 17 missions remain for them.
The Vulcan rocket, which uses Blue Origin methane engines, will replace both Delta and Atlas missiles, and will considerably cheaper to build and use, especially when the ULA builds out Vulcan’s reusability. For more on this change in American rocketry, see: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space/after-nearly-64-years-delta-rockets-come-end. For the latest on the certification of the Vulcan engines, see: https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/commercial-space/be-4-engines-arrive-ula-vulcan-cert-2.
Advance in Solar Cell Technology: Most satellites and spacecraft in the inner Solar system at present use silicon-based solar cells for electrical power. But the present cells are only 22% efficient at best, and are difficult to manufacture in size. However, new engineering research conducted primarily at the University of Colorado at Boulder shows that solar cells made with a material called perovskite could be a big improvement in cell efficiency and manufacturing ease. Additional research on perovskite cells’ durability is needed. For a summary of this research, see: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240322145604.htm. To a geologist, perovskite is a mineral (CaTiO3) with a distinctive molecular structure. The terms is often applied to any compound that has that same molecular structure, such as the subject of this research.
A HUMILIATING TRUTH: How Science Doesn’t Operate: I had occasion recently to visit the “Big Think” website, for the update on the NSF funding for astronomical research update in the News: Astronomy section below. While there, I ran into a story about how pseudo-scientific thinking led to a set of frankly ridiculous claims from someone who should have known better. Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb maintains that a meteor that struck the Earth in 2014 was debris from an interstellar spacecraft, and that he had recovered fragments from it that confirmed its alien origin. The author(s) of the BT piece systematically demolish the claims. The piece is a good example of the self-correcting nature of scientific inquiry and a demonstration of how not to do critical thinking. See for yourself at: Loeb’s hypothesis: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/galileo/news/spherule-analysis-finds-evidence-extrasolar-composition and the rebuttal: https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/truth-harvard-astronomer-alien-spherules.
Mining Helium-3 on the Moon? One of the obstacles to finding a commercial reason for going to the Moon is its distance, gravity, and lack of usable or valuable resources. What could possibly be there that would justify the cost of going out and getting it? Answer: Helium-3, an isotope of normal helium, having only one instead of two neutrons in its nucleus. He-3 is important in super-cooling technology, such as quantum computing, and may be an important substance in the development of nuclear fusion power. He-3 is extremely scarce on Earth, but it is present in the solar wind, and has been accumulating in the lunar regolith for eons.
Harrison Schmitt, the Apollo 17 Moonwalker who was the only geologist (to date) to tread on the Moon, recently teamed with two senior ex-managers from Blue Origin to form Interlune, a company striving to build and use robotic He-3 extraction technology to mine the lunar surface for He-3 and return it to the Earth. “Helium-3 is the only element in the Universe that’s expensive enough to warrant going to the Moon and bringing it back to Earth,” according to former Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson. For more on this interesting development, see: https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/commercial-space/former-blue-origin-president-leads-helium-3-moon-mining-mission.
AGU’s Wide. Open. Science. The American Geophysical Union has posted a year-end summary of “how researchers are advancing and expanding the reach of Earth and Space sciences. Check it out at: https://eos.org/agu-news/wide-open-science!
NEW FEATURE OF SPECIAL INTEREST: IN THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
I recently had the privilege of visiting the National Air and Space Museum, both the original building on the National Mall, now undergoing renovation, and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy building at Dulles Airport, where a number of planes and other artifacts normally downtown are now on display. A number of Docents and museum staff get A+StW, and I thought I could expand the Of Special Interest section to include info relating to NASM programming, collection, and research. I hope the new material makes you want to made the trip to see NASM in person!
Exhibit Update: Once again, the sharp eyes of the stalwart NASM Docent Corps detected an out-of-date error in recent A+StW reporting about Jerrie Mock and her round-the-world flight in her Cessna 180 she named “Spirit of Columbus” but referred to as “Charlie.” It is now on proud display in the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall Building in the new Thomas W. Haas We All Fly gallery. For more on the gallery, see: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/factsheets/thomas-w-haas-we-all-fly. [Thanks, SM!]
For more about Jerrie Mock, see here and here.
DOCENTS (and all others interested in Solar System exploration history): If you don’t have an on-line copy of Fordham University’s Asif A. Siddiqi’s fabulous book, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, you should. You can find it at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/beyond_earth_detail.html.
Check out Space Oddities: “Astronomy and space exploration news, panel discussions, competitions, documentaries, special guests, fun quizzes and more, brought to you by a panel of professionals and enthusiasts who formerly worked together on the radio station Astro Radio. In our new home here on YouTube we will continue with our passion for bringing the Universe to everybody.” Live on YouTube, Mondays at 3 PM EDT. See: https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceOdditiesLive/about!
IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARIES in the next week have been the subject of previous Items of the Week. CHECK THEM OUT (AGAIN) HERE.
Monday, May 13, would have been the 83rd birthday of singer Richie Valens, who perished in a plane crash with Buddy Holly on February 3, 1959. For more about this tragedy, see here.
Tuesday, May 14, is the 51st anniversary of the launch of Skylab, the first USA Space Station. For more about it, see here.
Wednesday, May 15, is the 106th anniversary of President Wilson signing legislation that created the U.S. Air Mail Service. For more on the early days of commercial aviation, see here and here.
Thursday, May 16, is the 81st anniversary of famed “Dambusters” attack, by the RAF using the ingenious Wallis Bomb. For more about “Skipping Stones, Sinking Ships, and Busting Dams,” one of my favorite Items of the Week, see here
Friday, May 17, is the 70th anniversary of the launch of SMS-1, the first geostationary meteorological satellite. For more about the math behind geosynchronous/geostationary orbits, see here.
Saturday, May 11, is the 71st anniversary of Capt Joeseph McConnell becoming the leading ace of the Korean Conflict. For more about him, see here.
Saturday, May 11, is also the 55th anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 10 spacecraft, the first Moon landing’s “dress rehearsal.” For more information about the Apollo 10 mission, see here.