Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion

Astronomy Cast Ep. 325: Cold Fusion:

The Universe is filled with hot fusion, in the cores of stars. And scientists have even been able to replicate this stellar process in expensive experiments. But wouldn’t it be amazing if you could produce energy from fusion without all that equipment, and high temperatures and pressures? Pons and Fleischmann announced exactly that back in 1989, but things didn’t quite turn out as planned…
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Astrophoto: Zodiacal Light at Dawn

Astrophoto: Zodiacal Light at Dawn:
The morning zodiacal as seen from near Rodeo, New Mexico, looking east at 5:00 am December 6, 2013. Credit and copyright: Alan Dyer/Amazing Sky Photography.
Astrophoto: Zodiacal Light at Dawn
The morning zodiacal as seen from near Rodeo, New Mexico, looking east at 5:00 am December 6, 2013. Credit and copyright: Alan Dyer/Amazing Sky Photography.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, dawn comes before the dawn. The zodiacal light – or false dawn, as it is sometimes called – is an ethereal light extending up from the horizon, sometimes seen about an hour before sunrise or an hour after sunset. At one time, it was thought this was an atmospheric phenomenon, but it’s more cosmic than that! Zodiacal light is sunlight reflecting off dust grains in space. These dust grains are likely left over from the same process that created Earth and the other planets of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
Alan Dyer captured this beautiful view of the zodiacal light on a recent trip to New Mexico. If you look closely you can see some other cosmic phenomena as well: “Mars is above centre and Saturn is just rising over the mountain ridge,” Alan wrote on Flickr. “Comet Lovejoy C/2013 R1 is at far left. The image includes the position (left of centre, above the mountains left of the Zodiacal Light) where Comet ISON (C/2012 S2) would have been had it survived passage around the Sun.”
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See What the Moon Will Look Like in All of 2014 in Just 5 Minutes

See What the Moon Will Look Like in All of 2014 in Just 5 Minutes:

Here’s how the Moon will look to us on Earth during the entire year of 2014. Using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio can project how the Moon will appear, and compresses one month into 24 seconds and a year to about 5 minutes. Above is the video where Celestial north is up, corresponding to the view from the northern hemisphere, and below is how the Moon will look from the southern hemisphere.
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And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …

And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …:
With remote-sensing satellites, scientists have found the coldest places on Earth, just off a ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau. The coldest of the cold temperatures dropped to minus 135.8 F (minus 93.2 C) -- several degrees colder than the previous record. Image Credit: Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
And the Coldest Place on Earth Is …
With remote-sensing satellites, scientists have found the coldest places on Earth, just off a ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau. The coldest of the cold temperatures dropped to minus 135.8 F (minus 93.2 C) — several degrees colder than the previous record.
Image Credit: Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
What is the coldest place on Earth? Scientists say it’s a place so cold that ordinary mercury or alcohol thermometers won’t work there. At this place, the new record of minus 136 F (minus 93.2 C) was set on Aug. 10, 2010. Researchers analyzed data from several satellite instruments and found the coldest place on Earth in the past 32 years is … (...)
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Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth

Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth:
Molecular hydrogen in the Whirlpool Galaxy M51. The blueish features show the distribution of hydrogen molecules in M51, the raw material for forming new stars. The PAWS team has used this data to create a catalogue of more then 1,500 molecular clouds. The background is a color image of M51 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Superimposed in blue is the CO(1-0) radiation emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules, as measured for the PAWS study using the millimeter telescopes of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique. The CO molecules are used as tracers for molecular hydrogen. Credit: PAWS team/IRAM/NASA HST/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)
Mapping Molecular Clouds Changes Astronomers Outlook On Starbirth
Molecular hydrogen in the Whirlpool Galaxy M51. The blueish features show the distribution of hydrogen molecules in M51, the raw material for forming new stars. The PAWS team has used this data to create a catalogue of more then 1,500 molecular clouds. The background is a color image of M51 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Superimposed in blue is the CO(1-0) radiation emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules, as measured for the PAWS study using the millimeter telescopes of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique. The CO molecules are used as tracers for molecular hydrogen. Credit: PAWS team/IRAM/NASA HST/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)
It didn’t happen overnight. By studying the properties of giant molecular clouds in the Whirlpool Galaxy for several years with the millimeter telescopes of IRAM, the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, astronomers have been given a whole, new look at star formation. Encompassing 1,500 maps of molecular clouds, this new research has found these building blocks of future suns to be encased in a sort of molecular hydrogen mist. This ethereal mixture appears to be far denser than speculated and is found throughout the galactic disc. What’s more, it would appear the pressure created by the molecular fog is a critical factor in determining whether or not stars are able to form within the clouds. (...)
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New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe

New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe:
Image of NGC 6872 (left) and companion galaxy IC 4970 (right) locked in a tango as the two galaxies gravitationally interact. The galaxies lie about 200 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pavo (the Peacock). Image credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Observatory/Macquarie University), and the Australian Gemini Office.
New Project Aims To Improve Galaxy Simulation — And Help Us Understand More About The Universe
Image of NGC 6872 (left) and companion galaxy IC 4970 (right) locked in a tango as the two galaxies gravitationally interact. The galaxies lie about 200 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pavo (the Peacock). Image credit: Sydney Girls High School Astronomy Club, Travis Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Observatory/Macquarie University), and the Australian Gemini Office.
Galaxy modelling is complicated, and even more so when different computer models don’t agree on how the factors come together. This makes it hard to understand the nature of our universe. One new project called AGORA (Assembling Galaxies of Resolved Anatomy) aims to resolve the discrepancies and make the results more consistent. Basically, the project aims to compare different codes against each other and also against observations.
“The physics of galaxy formation is extremely complicated, and the range of lengths, masses, and timescales that need to be simulated is immense,” stated Piero Madau, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and co-chair of the AGORA steering committee.
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Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion

Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion:
Artist's sketch of a supernova explosion (credit: Adam Burn / Deviant art).
Young Boy’s Discovery Confirmed as a Peculiar Supernova Explosion
An artist’s sketch of a supernova explosion (credit: Adam Burn / deviantART).
New observations confirm that young Nathan Gray’s discovery is indeed a supernova explosion, albeit a rather peculiar one.  Nathan Gray, age 10, discovered a new cosmic source on October 30th that emerged in the constellation of Draco, and it was subsequently classified as a supernova candidate.  Evidence available at the time was sufficiently convincing that Nathan was promptly heralded as the youngest individual to discover a supernova.
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Hubble Finds ‘Clear Signal’ of Water in 5 Exoplanet Atmospheres

Hubble Finds ‘Clear Signal’ of Water in 5 Exoplanet Atmospheres:
To determine what’s in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, astronomers watch the planet pass in front of its host star and look at which wavelengths of light are transmitted and which are partially absorbed. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Finds ‘Clear Signal’ of Water in 5 Exoplanet Atmospheres
To determine what’s in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, astronomers watch the planet pass in front of its host star and look at which wavelengths of light are transmitted and which are partially absorbed. Credit:
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
For the first time, astronomers have found conclusive evidence of water in the hazy atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, two teams of scientists found faint but clear signatures of water in the atmospheres of five exoplanets. All five are so-called ‘hot Jupiters,’ massive worlds that orbit close to their host stars.
“To actually detect the atmosphere of an exoplanet is extraordinarily difficult. But we were able to pull out a very clear signal, and it is water,” said Drake Deming from the University of Maryland, who led a study characterizing the atmospheres of two of the five planets.
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Ready For Your Closeup, Ceres? NASA Spacecraft Gets Closer To Dwarf Planet

Ready For Your Closeup, Ceres? NASA Spacecraft Gets Closer To Dwarf Planet:
Artist's conception of the Dawn spacecraft approaching the asteroid Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Ready For Your Closeup, Ceres? NASA Spacecraft Gets Closer To Dwarf Planet
Artist’s conception of the Dawn spacecraft approaching the dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The next few years will be banner ones for learning about dwarf planets. While the high-profile New Horizons spacecraft zooms towards a Pluto date in 2015, the Dawn spacecraft is making a more stealthy (in terms of media coverage) run at Ceres, which is the smallest and closest dwarf planet to Earth.
The Dawn spacecraft, as readers likely recall, made its first port of call at fellow protoplanet Vesta. What excites scientists this time around is the likelihood of water ice on Ceres’ surface. Vesta, by contrast, was very dry.
Here’s Dawn’s agenda once it gets to Ceres in April 2015:
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Monday, December 2, 2013

Spectacular Liftoff Thrusts China’s First Rover ‘Yutu’ to the Moon

Spectacular Liftoff Thrusts China’s First Rover ‘Yutu’ to the Moon:
Liftoff of China’s first ever lunar rover on Dec. 2 local China time from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. Credit: CCTV
Spectacular Liftoff Thrusts China’s First Rover ‘Yutu’ to the Moon
Liftoff of China’s first ever lunar rover on Dec. 2 local Beijing time from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. Credit: CCTV
Story updated
See stunning launch video and rover deployment animation below
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – China successfully launched its first ever lunar rover bound for the Moon’s surface aboard a Long March rocket today at 1:30 a.m. Beijing local time, Dec. 2, 2013 (12:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 1) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.
The spectacular night time blastoff of the Long March-3B carrier rocket with the ‘Yutu’ rover was carried live on China’s state run CCTV enabling viewers worldwide to watch the dramatic proceedings as they occurred in real time – including fantastic imagery of booster jettison, spacecraft separation, thruster firings and exquisite views of Earth from cameras aboard the booster.
See the stunning launch video below. (...)
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Gorgeous Astrophoto: Montage of Comet ISON

Gorgeous Astrophoto: Montage of Comet ISON:
A montage of images of Comet ISON taken from September 24 to November 15, 2013. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach.
Gorgeous Astrophoto: Montage of Comet ISON
A montage of images of Comet ISON taken from September 24 to November 15, 2013. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach.
Astrophotographer Damian Peach has wowed us with his images of Comet ISON the past few months. Here’s a montage of some of his best images from September 24 to November 15.
“This may well be my final word on it.” Damian said via email, “but here it is growing in brightness on approach to its best in mid-late November.”
And while it appears there’s a ghost of ISON out there with a blob of dust in the latest views from the Sun-studying satellites, it won’t give us the views we had hoped for. But its been a fun experience the past few months, watching what unfolded. Thanks for bringing us along for the ride with your images, Damian!
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Sunday, December 1, 2013

India’s First Mars Probe ‘MOM’ Blasts Free of Earth Joining MAVEN in Race to Red Planet

India’s First Mars Probe ‘MOM’ Blasts Free of Earth Joining MAVEN in Race to Red Planet:
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) swings around Earth on its final orbit and breaks free of the Home Planet following final engine burn on Dec. 1 placing her on Mars Transfer Trajectory in this artists concept. Credit: ISRO
India’s First Mars Probe ‘MOM’ Blasts Free of Earth Joining MAVEN in Race to Red Planet
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) swings around Earth on its final orbit and breaks free of the Home Planet following final engine burn on Dec. 1 placing her on Mars Transfer Trajectory in this artists concept. Credit: ISRO
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – India’s first ever Mars probe ‘MOM’ successfully fired its main engine today (Dec. 1), blasting the craft free of the Earth’s sphere of influence forever to begin her nearly yearlong momentous voyage to the Red Planet.
Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned at 00:49 hrs (IST) on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes.
The Trans Mars Insertion (TMI) firing propelled India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) away from Earth forever and placed the spacecraft on course for a rendezvous with the Red Planet (...)
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Saturday, November 30, 2013

Mother of All Slingshots Set to Hurl India’s MOM Probe to Mars

Mother of All Slingshots Set to Hurl India’s MOM Probe to Mars:
The Mother of all Slingshots is set for Dec. 1 when the main engine fires to propel India’s first interplanetary spacecraft to Mars. Credit: ISRO
Mother of All Slingshots Set to Hurl India’s MOM Probe to Mars
The Mother of all Slingshots is set for Dec. 1 when the main engine fires to propel India’s first interplanetary spacecraft to Mars. Credit: ISRO
MOM – India’s first ever interplanetary spacecraft – is spending her last day around Mother Earth.
The clock is ticking down relentlessly towards “The mother of all slingshots” – the critical engine firing intended to hurl India’ Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) probe on her ten month long interplanetary cruise to the Red Planet.(...)
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Friday, November 29, 2013

How Could We Recycle Satellites For Newer Missions?

How Could We Recycle Satellites For Newer Missions?:
Artist's conception of ESA's OTS-2 telecom satellite, which was retired from geostationary orbit in 1991 after nearly 13 years of service. Credit: ESA
How Could We Recycle Satellites For Newer Missions?
Artist’s conception of ESA’s OTS-2 telecom satellite, which was retired from geostationary orbit in 1991 after nearly 13 years of service. Credit: ESA
Space junk is an ongoing concern for NASA, the European Space Agency and many others. After satellites live out their useful lives in orbit, more and more the agencies are trying to either move them far away from Earth, or to have the satellites burn up in the atmosphere. That’s basically to preserve orbital slots around the planet for others, and to reduce the risk of collisions.
But here’s an alternate approach — why not leave a few satellites handy for other missions to pick up? ESA recently opened a tender exploring this idea, and put a few thoughts out in a press release. Maybe leftover solid rocket fuel could be re-used. Metal alloys could be ground down for potential 3-D printing materials. Life support systems could use biodegradable materials. Since it costs so much to haul stuff into orbit, maybe it might be worthwhile to leave some available for future missions, ESA reasons.
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Second Solar System Like Ours Discovered

Second Solar System Like Ours Discovered:
A comparison between our solar system and a second solar system: KOI-351. Image Credit:
Second Solar System Like Ours Discovered
A comparison between our solar system and a second solar system: KOI-351. Image Credit: DLR Press Release
A team of European astronomers has discovered a second solar system, the closest parallel to our own solar system yet found. It includes seven exoplanets orbiting a star with the small rocky planets close to their host star and the gas giant planets further away. The system was hidden within the wealth of data from the Kepler Space Telescope.
KOI-351 is “the first system with a significant number of planets (not just two or three, where random fluctuations can play a role) that shows a clear hierarchy like the solar system — with small, probably rocky, planets in the interior and gas giants in the (exterior),” Dr. Juan Cabrera, of the Institute of Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center, told Universe Today.
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Anybody Want A Peanut? New Model Shows Tasty Orbital Shapes In Milky Way’s Bulge

Anybody Want A Peanut? New Model Shows Tasty Orbital Shapes In Milky Way’s Bulge:
Artist's impression of the Milky Way, looking at it edge on. This makes the bulge at the center look like a peanut, astronomers say. Credit: ESO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kornmesser/R. Hurt.
Anybody Want A Peanut? New Model Shows Tasty Orbital Shapes In Milky Way’s Bulge
Artist’s impression of the Milky Way, looking at it edge on. This makes the bulge at the center look like a peanut, astronomers say. Credit: ESO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kornmesser/R. Hurt.
Remember that 3-D map of the Milky Way that postulated that the center of the galaxy is shaped like a box or peanut? A new math model of the bulge shows that stars in the center of that bulge move in figure-eight orbits (which can also be interpreted as a peanut-shell shape.) Before, previous studies suggested these orbits looked more like bananas.
“The difference is important; astronomers develop theories of star motions to not only understand how the stars in our galaxy are moving today but also how our galaxy formed and evolves,” the Royal Astronomical Society stated.
In the middle of the galaxy, there are a lot of gravitational forces at play due to the sheer number of stars, as well as particles of dust and dark matter, congregating in the area. This makes it harder to model orbits than in more simple situations, such as our own solar system.
This is how a new model envisions it working:
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Forging Stars – Peering Into Starbirth and Death

Forging Stars – Peering Into Starbirth and Death:
The Large Magellanic Cloud is one of the closest galaxies to our own. Astronomers have now used the power of the ESO’s Very Large Telescope to explore NGC 2035, one of its lesser known regions, in great detail. This new image shows clouds of gas and dust where hot new stars are being born and are sculpting their surroundings into odd shapes. But the image also shows the effects of stellar death — filaments created by a supernova explosion (left). Credit: ESO
Forging Stars – Peering Into Starbirth and Death
The Large Magellanic Cloud is one of the closest galaxies to our own. Astronomers have now used the power of the ESO’s Very Large Telescope to explore NGC 2035, one of its lesser known regions, in great detail. This new image shows clouds of gas and dust where hot new stars are being born and are sculpting their surroundings into odd shapes. But the image also shows the effects of stellar death — filaments created by a supernova explosion (left). Credit: ESO
Some 160,000 light years away towards the constellation of Dorado (the Swordfish), is an amazing area of starbirth and death. Located in our celestial neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud, this huge stellar forge sculpts vast clouds of gas and dust into hot, new stars and carves out ribbons and curls of nebulae. However, in this image taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope, there’s more. Stellar annihilation also awaits and shows itself as bright fibers left over from a supernova event. (...)
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Is Comet ISON Dead? Astronomers Say It’s Likely After Icarus Sun-Grazing Stunt

Is Comet ISON Dead? Astronomers Say It’s Likely After Icarus Sun-Grazing Stunt:
Comet ISON on Nov. 10 before the recent outburst with well-developed dust (upper) and gas tails. Click ot enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach
Is Comet ISON Dead? Astronomers Say It’s Likely After Icarus Sun-Grazing Stunt
Comet ISON on Nov. 10. Credit: Damian Peach
Update, 4:40 p.m. EST: On Twitter, the European Space Agency (quoting SOHO scientist Bernhard Fleck) said the comet is gone. Separately, the Naval Research Laboratory’s Karl Battams posted that he thinks recent observations show debris from ISON, but not a nucleus. Astronomers are still monitoring, however. Real-time images are available on this website.
Update, 3:56 p.m. EST: Something has emerged from perihelion, but the experts are divided as to whether it’s leftovers of ISON’s tail, or the comet itself. Stay tuned.
It’s not looking good for Comet C/2012 S1 ISON. It made its closest approach to the sun today (Nov. 28) around 1:44 p.m. EST (6:44 p.m. UTC) and as of the time this article was written more than an hour later, no one has spotted any sign of the comet. That’s putting a damper on hopes for a good comet show in the next few weeks.
It will take a few more hours until NASA and other agencies can say for sure what the comet’s fate is, but several astronomers are saying the comet likely died during its closest approach. That said, there still is valuable science that can be performed if ISON has broken up — more details below the jump.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

NASA Plans To Deepen Asteroid Searches With Planetary Resources

NASA Plans To Deepen Asteroid Searches With Planetary Resources:
An artist's conception of two tidally locked objects orbiting the Sun from afar. The system: 2010 WG9 may likely look like this. Credit: zmescience
NASA Plans To Deepen Asteroid Searches With Planetary Resources
An artist’s conception of two tidally locked objects orbiting the Sun from afar. The system: 2010 WG9 may likely look like this. Credit: zmescience
Planetary Resources Inc. — that company that is developing a crowdsourced space telescope to search for asteroids — is planning to work on “crowdsourced software solutions” to make it easier to find asteroids and other near-Earth objects, using NASA-funded data.
NASA announced that Planetary Resources will receive a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement to help NASA characterize near-Earth objects. It’s the first initiative announced under NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge, which the agency announced this summer as a vehicle to find threats to Earth.
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Monday, November 25, 2013

Guide to Safely Viewing Comet ISON on Perihelion Day, November 28

Guide to Safely Viewing Comet ISON on Perihelion Day, November 28:
Comet ISON joins Earth and Mercury in this photo made by NASA's STEREO-A (Ahead) spacecraft in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2013. Click to see additional images.
Guide to Safely Viewing Comet ISON on Perihelion Day, November 28
Comet ISON joins Earth and Mercury in this photo made by NASA’s STEREO-A (Ahead) spacecraft in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 2013. The sun is off-frame to the right. Click to see additional images.
The day of truth is fast approaching. Will Comet ISON’s sungrazing ways spark it to brilliance or break it to bits? How bright will the comet become? Studying the latest images from NASA’s STEREO Ahead sun-watching spacecraft, it’s obvious that ISON remains healthy and intact. The most recent pictures taken from the ground confirm that no major breakup has occurred. Assuming that ISON doesn’t crumble apart on Nov. 28, when it passes just 730,000 miles (1.2 million km) from the sun, it could brighten to -4 magnitude or better in the hours leading up to and after the moment of perihelion at 12:24:57 p.m. CST (18:24:57 UT).
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Sunday, November 24, 2013

NASA’s LADEE Probe Starts Science Study of Thin Lunar Atmosphere and Dusty Mystery

NASA’s LADEE Probe Starts Science Study of Thin Lunar Atmosphere and Dusty Mystery:
Artist’s concept of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft in orbit above the moon as dust scatters light during the lunar sunset. Credit: NASA Ames / Dana Berry
NASA’s LADEE Probe Starts Science Study of Thin Lunar Atmosphere and Dusty Mystery
Artist’s concept of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft in orbit above the moon as dust scatters light during the lunar sunset. Credit: NASA Ames / Dana Berry
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has descended to its planned low altitude orbit and begun capturing science data on its ground breaking mission to study the Moon’s ultra tenuous atmosphere and dust using a spacecraft based on a revolutionary new design aimed at speeding development and cutting costs.
LADEE set sail for Earth’s nearest neighbor during a spectacular night time launch atop the maiden flight of an Air Force Minotaur V rocket on Sept. 6 from NASA’s Wallops Island launch facility on Virginia’s Eastern shore.
The flawless launch thrilled spectators up and down virtually the entire US East coast region and yielded many memorable snapshots.
Following a month long voyage and three and a half long looping orbits of the Earth, LADEE successfully fired its main engine for 4 minutes and 12 seconds on Oct. 6 and successfully entered lunar orbit, Dawn McIntosh, LADEE deputy project manager at NASA Ames Research Center, told Universe Today in an exclusive interview.(...)
Read the rest of NASA’s LADEE Probe Starts Science Study of Thin Lunar Atmosphere and Dusty Mystery (727 words)
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Friday, November 22, 2013

The Challenges of Lasers in Space

The Challenges of Lasers in Space:
Artist concept of a solar sail demonstration mission that will use lasers for naviation. Credit: NASA.
The Challenges of Lasers in Space
Artist concept of a solar sail demonstration mission that will use lasers for naviation. Credit: NASA.
Since the beginning of the space age, radio waves have been used for communication with spacecraft. But last month, NASA’s Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) made history by using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 385,000 km (239,000 miles) between the Moon and Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits per second (Mbps). This was NASA’s first system for two-way communication using a laser instead of radio waves. In our previous article today, we described how NASA will test out the Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) on the International Space Station to demonstrate how videos can be beamed to Earth via laser beam.
What are the challenges in testing out an entirely new way of doing communications and other systems like navigation using lasers in space?
(...)
Read the rest of The Challenges of Lasers in Space (275 words)
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