NASA / JPL / Malin Space Sciences System / RichTPar

FOBOS-GRUNT... That’s the name of the latest robotic Mars mission by Russia to be on the verge of ending in failure. What I find mind-boggling is the fact The Planetary Society—a well-known non-profit space advocacy group based in Pasadena, California—would continue to rely on Russia to send its many exciting projects towards space throughout the years, only to fail after launch during the process. The first disappointment came in 1996, when the Mars ’96 spacecraft, carrying The Planetary Society’s first Vision of Mars CD-ROM, ended up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after the Proton rocket carrying the probe suffered a mechanical problem after liftoff. [Another Vision of Mars DVD (shown below) has since found its way onto the surface of Mars...courtesy of NASA’s now-defunct but very-successful Phoenix lander.] The second disappointment came in 2005, when a Volna rocket—carrying the Society’s Cosmos 1 solar sail—malfunctioned after launch, preventing Cosmos 1 from reaching its intended orbit. And now stranded in low-Earth orbit (LEO) with Fobos-Grunt is the Society’s Phobos LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment) project...which consists of a canister (a.k.a. 'biomodule') that contains millions of microorganisms that were intended to test the "Transpermia Hypothesis": Which theorizes that microbes could survive trips between planets onboard rocks blasted into deep space by impacts. A Shuttle LIFE canister, which is similar to the one placed on Fobos-Grunt, successfully flew into LEO onboard the orbiter Endeavour during flight STS-134 last May.


The Planetary Society

The Planetary Society has another project coming up...the Lightsail-1 solar sail that is currently scheduled to fly into space no earlier than mid-2012. No launch vehicle has yet been selected to send Lightsail-1 into Earth orbit. Not to sound like an arrogant Yankee space geek or something, but I really do hope the Society considers American rockets and American rockets only (and maybe a Japanese H-IIA vehicle) when it comes to choosing a means of transport once Lightsail-1 is ready to soar into the sky. Of course, since Lightsail-1 will be a secondary payload, it’s up to the organization that is responsible for the primary payload to decide which rocket will be used for the mission. But I’ll take a Delta II, an Atlas V or a Falcon 9 vehicle (a Delta IV rocket, currently the largest in the U.S. expendable launch vehicle inventory, might be bit of an overkill) over a converted Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile (which is what Cosmos 1 flew on) any day. Though I hope the Society doesn’t consider a Taurus XL rocket when/if that one becomes operational again. I’m still peeved over the Glory spacecraft’s launch failure last March.


The Planetary Society

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... In case you wanted to know how huge of an obsessive space nerd I am, here are the latest (or oldest) evidence of that. Ever since I was in 4th grade (back in um, 1989-90), I would cut out practically every space-related article from a newspaper (specifically the Los Angeles Times, since I live in SoCal) and put them in plastic report covers I bought at the local supermarket. My interest in the space program started in the 3rd grade, and increased dramatically around August 25, 1989, when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Neptune and its icy moon Triton. During this flyby, I would get up early in the morning and see a photo that Voyager 2 took of the giant gas planet and its main satellite on the front page of the L.A. Times almost every day during the following week. In the photos above is the very first album (I don’t want to call it a scrapbook, despite the fact the latest albums are entitled The Space Scrapbook, haha) I worked on. As you can see, it was actually autographed by someone who worked at NASA. He visited my elementary school and gave a presentation to the entire student body when I was in 6th grade back in 1992.





As you can see below, I also did an album (back in 5th grade, I think. Or maybe it was 7th grade?) on the Persian Gulf War (the first one in 1991, that is) and the U.S. involvement in Somalia (also in ’91). Yep, I’m a space/tech/war nut who has lots of free time on my hands...especially since last January. That is all.

TitanFan - NASASpaceflight.com

IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN... After having my name successfully fly into space onboard the Cassini Saturn orbiter, Deep Impact’s "impactor", the Phoenix Mars Lander, Japan’s Kaguya lunar spacecraft, the Dawn space probe, the Kepler telescope, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Japan’s IKAROS solar sail and the Akatsuki spacecraft (even though it failed to enter Venus’ orbit last December), it was inevitable that my name would fail to soar beyond Earth (again) onboard a future space mission. Turns out— Glory was that mission. Much like what happened during the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) in 2009, the payload fairing that encapsulated Glory onboard the Taurus XL rocket (which was also used by OCO) failed to separate during flight this morning, preventing the vehicle from gaining sufficient speed to reach Earth orbit...and causing another NASA climate-observing satellite to find its final resting spot at the bottom of the south Pacific Ocean. Awesome. A microchip bearing my name, along with that of 243,200 others, is now—to borrow a line from Godfather: Part 1—sleeping with the fishes. Oh well.



This isn’t the first spacecraft with my name on it to end up underwater. My name was also onboard Russia’s Mars ’96 lander...which also plunged into the Pacific Ocean after experiencing a launch mishap 15 years ago. Spaceflight is definitely risky business. My apologies to the Glory mission team who has to suffer through this devastating setback and the Orbital Sciences team (who was responsible for the Taurus XL) who spent the last 2 years trying to fix the payload fairing issue. That is all.


NASA

NASA - Randy Beaudoin / VAFB

LESS THAN TWO DAYS FROM NOW, the Glory spacecraft is set to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a long-awaited mission to see how airborne particles—called aerosols—affect Earth’s climate. Posted here are photos of Glory as it underwent processing at Vandenberg AFB before being mated to its launch vehicle, a Taurus XL rocket, last week.


NASA - Randy Beaudoin / VAFB

Godspeed Glory. If the rocket gods want this week to be a successful one for NASA, then the launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-133 will take place exactly a day after Glory heads into space (assuming Glory launches on schedule this Wednesday). *Crosses fingers.*


NASA - Randy Beaudoin & Don Kososka / VAFB

NASA

CALIFORNIA GLORY...

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NASA's Glory Satellite Arrives At Vandenberg Air Force Base for Launch (Press Release)

The latest Earth-observing satellite developed by NASA, called Glory, arrived Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for a Feb. 23 launch. Glory was transported by truck from Orbital Sciences Corporation’s satellite design, production and testing facility in Dulles, Va.

Glory is NASA's next Earth-observing research mission that will improve our understanding of how the sun and airborne particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate. It will join the Afternoon Constellation or "A-train" of polar-orbiting satellites, a group that includes the Aqua and Aura satellites. Glory will carry two primary instruments, the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM). APS will measure aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere and will take advantage of the A-train orbit by gathering coincident data with other atmospheric science instruments. TIM will point towards the sun and continue the 32-year data record of the sun’s brightness, or total solar irradiance.

"The scientific knowledge gained from Glory will have a significant impact on our understanding of natural and human influences on climate," said Hal Maring, Glory program scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

On Jan. 18, Stage 0 of Orbital’s Taurus XL 3110 four-stage rocket will be moved to the launch pad and hoisted into position. Stages 1, 2 and 3 will join stage 0 on the pad on Jan 25. The Glory spacecraft will be enclosed in the Taurus XL payload fairing on Feb. 4-5 and transported to the launch pad to be mated to the third stage of the rocket the following day. Once the spacecraft is integrated with stages 1, 2, and 3, the entire unit will be rotated to vertical and hoisted atop stage 0 on Feb. 15.

On Feb. 23, Glory is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 576-E at 2:09 a.m. PST (5:09 a.m. EST). After launch, mission operators will conduct verification tests for 30 days and then begin normal data collection for a period of at least three years. Glory will fly in a low-Earth orbit of 438 miles (705 km) altitude, which is about the distance between Boston and Washington.

Glory is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Launch management is the responsibility of NASA’s Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Orbital is responsible for the Glory satellite’s design, manufacture, payload integration, and testing, as well as spacecraft operations conducted from its Mission Operations Complex in Dulles, Va. Orbital is also responsible for the mission’s launch service with its Taurus XL rocket. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado provided and will operate the TIM instrument. Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in El Segundo, Calif., provided the APS instrument, which will be operated by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

JAXA

AKATSUKI Update... I would write a long entry about this, but I don’t wanna. Basically, Japan’s first mission to the planet Venus has hit a major snag. Akatsuki was unable to enter Venus’ orbit after initiating an Orbit Insertion Maneuver (OIM) at 3:49 PM, Pacific Standard Time yesterday. The flight can still be salvaged, if the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) waits 6 years till Akatsuki flies close to Venus again to initiate another OIM—which will probably not be likely since the spacecraft probably used up a lot of fuel on yesterday’s try. It’s 2003 all over again...when Japan’s Nozomi spacecraft failed to enter Mars’ orbit after being launched in 1998. Of course, if Hayabusa is any indication, resourceful engineering and intestinal fortitude by the Akatsuki flight team may lead to a triumphant moment between...December 2016 and January 2017 (the next time Akatsuki approaches the greenhouse planet).

On a personal note, the streak has ended for me. Since 2007, every spacecraft that I’ve submitted my name on is either still going strong or ended in success. NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander, JAXA’s Kaguya lunar orbiter and IKAROS solar sail, NASA’s Dawn space probe, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Kepler spacecraft... I guess I can’t complain about this unfortunate setback with Akatsuki when my name is sitting safely on the Martian surface and as far in deep space as the Asteroid Belt (and even Saturn and headed to Pluto...if you visit the link posted in the first sentence of this paragraph). Also, there are three spacecraft with my name on ‘em scheduled to launch in 2011 that will hopefully make up for this loss. I’d elaborate, but I don’t wanna jinx it. Let’s just say I’ll hopefully be heading to Earth orbit with two of these missions, and the third one will be heading to the Martian surface to join her sister rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. That is all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! First of all, just thought I’d mention that 2010 marks 10 years since I created this Blog and my official website. I don’t know the exact day or month I set up Parman’s Page (it might've been this month), but I do know that it will be a decade since I started this journal on October 24 (as you can tell if you check my Archives section to the right). Nice... So how will I be celebrating this milestone about 10 months from now, you ask? Probably by writing a journal entry about Transformers 3 (since it should be starting production this year if Michael Bay is still aiming for a July 2011 theatrical release. Yes, I am looking forward to another 'Bayformers' flick) or the space program.



Speaking of the space program... This year will be a very historic year for NASA as it prepares to fly the last 5 shuttle flights to the International Space Station (ISS). The final mission of the shuttle program is targeted for launch on September 16, with the orbiter Discovery on STS-133. Of course, all this could change if President Obama raises NASA’s budget for 2011...thus allowing one more flight to be conducted after STS-133 to the ISS (assuming STS-133 launches on time). On non-space-related notes, Iron Man 2 comes out in theaters on May 7, The Hurt Locker will presumably have a gripload of Oscar nominations—including that for Best Picture—when the Academy Awards are broadcast on TV this March 7, and Kobe and the L.A. Lakers will hopefully repeat and start another decade as NBA champions this June. Hopefully. That is all.



January 2010
-BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena, California: Texas vs. Alabama (Jan 7)
-Season 9 premiere of American Idol (Jan 12)
-Annular solar eclipse over the Indian Ocean (Jan 15)
-The Book of Eli (Jan 15)
-67th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 17)
-Season 8 premiere of 24 (Jan 17, 18)
-Popular TV show Supernatural returns from hiatus on Season 5 (Jan 21)
-52nd Annual Grammy Awards (Jan 31)



February 2010
-Season 6 (final season) premiere of Lost (Feb 2)
-Super Bowl XLIV in Florida (Feb 7)
-Mission STS-130... Space shuttle Endeavour (Feb 7)
-The Wolfman (Feb 12)
-Opening Ceremony – XXI Olympic Winter Games of Vancouver (Feb 12)
-52nd annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 14)
-2010 NBA All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas (Feb 14)
-Shutter Island (Feb 19)
-NASA's New Horizons spacecraft covers half of the actual travel distance of its trip to Pluto (Feb 25)
-Closing Ceremony – Olympic Winter Games (Feb 28)
-Maiden flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 commercial launch vehicle (TBA)



March 2010
-Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (Mar 5)
-82nd Academy Awards (Mar 7)
-Green Zone (Mar 12)
-2010 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 16)
-Mission STS-131... Space shuttle Discovery (Mar 18)
-Clash of the Titans (Mar 26)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2010 Final Four games in Indiana (Mar 28)



April 2010
-2010 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana (Apr 3)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Indianapolis, Indiana (Apr 5)
-Kick-Ass (Apr 16)
-NASA's New Horizons probe is at the midpoint between the Sun and the spacecraft's rendezvous point with Pluto (Apr 20)
-Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (Apr 23)
-NFL Draft (Apr 22-24)
-A Nightmare On Elm Street (Apr 30)



May 2010
-Iron Man 2 (May 7)
-Mission STS-132... Space shuttle Atlantis (May 14)
-Shrek Forever After (May 21)
-Start of the 2010 French Open tennis tournament (May 23)
-94th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 30)
-Launch of Japan’s IKAROS solar sail and Akatsuki spacecraft to the planet Venus (TBA)



June 2010
-Conclusion of the 2010 French Open (Jun 6)
-The A-Team (Jun 11)
-Start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa (Jun 11)
-Toy Story 3 (Jun 18)
-Partial lunar eclipse (Jun 26)



July 2010
-The Last Airbender (Jul 2)
-Start of the 2010 Tour de France (Jul 3)
-Conclusion of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament (Jul 11)
-Total solar eclipse over the South Pacific Ocean (Jul 11)
-2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, California (Jul 13)
-Salt (Jul 23)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 25)
-Mission STS-134... Space shuttle Endeavour (Jul 29)



August 2010

-Start of the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore (Aug 14)
-The Expendables (Aug 20)
-Conclusion of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games (Aug 26)



September 2010
-Mission STS-133 (Currently the final flight of the shuttle program)... Space shuttle Discovery (Sep 16)



October 2010
-Launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft into Earth orbit (Oct 1)
-NASA's New Horizons probe reaches the midpoint of its flight time to Pluto, which New Horizons will reach on July 14, 2015 (Oct 17)
-Start of the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand (Oct 29)



November 2010
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Nov 7)
-Launch of Europe’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, to the International Space Station (Nov 18)
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Nov 19)
-Red Dawn (Nov 24)



December 2010
-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Dec 10)
-Tron: Legacy (Dec 17)
-Total lunar eclipse (Dec 21)
-The Green Hornet (Dec 22)
-Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft arrives at Venus (TBA)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! It’s time for that annual journal entry where I post a series of events that are happening this year...and half of them interest me and only some of them interest you. Just kidding. Seriously though, you’ll notice a consistency of events from January to July that I’ve listed in the previous years...such as the USC Trojans playing football in the Rose Bowl every New Year’s Day to the Tour de France taking place in July (July 4 thru 26). And of course, just like the past recent years, there aren’t that many significant events (um, American-wise) taking place from August through December...which is why I list international stuff like elections taking place in Uruguay, Honduras and Chile (October 25, November 29 and December 11, respectively).



Personally, I’m looking forward to the re-release of The Dark Knight in theaters later this month, Christian Bale kicking cyborg ass as John Connor (May 22), the return of the Autobots and Decepticons to the big screen (June 26), the test flight of a prototype of America’s next generation launch vehicle (July 11) and a federal election in Germany (September 27). Just kidding about that last one. But I am looking forward to the return of the hit TV show 24 (January 11) as well as the launches of Kepler, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Glory spacecraft within the next 6 months (March 5, April 24 and June 15, respectively). Why am I looking forward to their launches? I’ll tell you later. That is all.



January 2009
-Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State (Jan 1)
-BCS National Championship Game in Miami, Florida: Oklahoma vs. Florida (Jan 8)
-66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 11)
-Season 7 premiere of 24 (Jan 11, 12)
-Season 8 premiere of American Idol (Jan 13, 14)
-Popular TV show Supernatural returns from hiatus on Season 4 (Jan 15)
-U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama (Jan 20)
-Season 5 premiere of Lost (Jan 21)
-The Dark Knight re-release (Jan 23)
-2009 National Hockey League All-Star Game in Montreal, Quebec (Jan 25)



February 2009
-Super Bowl XLIII in Florida (Feb 1)
-51st Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 8)
-Mission STS-119... Space shuttle Discovery (Feb 12)
-51st annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 15)
-2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona (Feb 15)
-NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, en route to asteroid Vesta, flies by Mars for a gravitational assist (Feb 17)
-81st Academy Awards (Feb 22)
-Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27)



March 2009
-Launch of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft into solar orbit (Mar 5)
-World Baseball Classic (Mar 5)
-Start of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, hosted by Dubai (Mar 5)
-Watchmen (Mar 6)
-Conclusion of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens (Mar 5)
-2009 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 17)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2009 Final Four games in Michigan (Mar 29)



April 2009
-2009 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 5)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 6)
-Dragonball: Evolution (Apr 8)
-The New York Mets open their new Citi Field stadium against the San Diego Padres (Apr 13)
-The New York Yankees open their new Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians (Apr 16)
-Launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Moon (Apr 24)
-NFL Draft (Apr 25, 26)



May 2009
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1)
-Star Trek (May 8)
-Mission STS-125... Space shuttle Atlantis (May 12 – tentative)
-Angels & Demons (May 15)
-Mission STS-127... Space shuttle Endeavour (May 15 – tentative)
-Terminator Salvation (May 22)
-Start of the 2009 French Open tennis tournament (May 24)
-93rd Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 24)



June 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 French Open (Jun 7)
-Start of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa (Jun 14)
-Launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft into Earth orbit (Jun 15)
-Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Jun 26)
-Conclusion of the FIFA Confederations Cup (Jun 28)



July 2009
-Start of the 2009 Tour de France (Jul 4)
-2012 (Jul 10)
-Test flight of NASA’s Ares I-X rocket (Jul 11)
-2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri (Jul 14)
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Jul 17)
-2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Italy (Jul 19)
-Total solar eclipse (Jul 22)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 26)



August 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 World Aquatics Championships (Aug 2)
-Mission STS-128... Space shuttle Atlantis (Aug 6)
-G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Aug 7)
-Start of the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poland (Aug 23)
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Aug 30)



September 2009
-Parliamentary election in Norway (Sep 14)
-Jennifer’s Body (Sep 18)
-Federal election in Germany (Sep 27)
-NASA’s Messenger spacecraft makes a third flyby of Mercury (Sep 29)



October 2009
-Toy Story 3-D (Oct 2)
-Announcement of the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics (Oct 2)
-Presidential elections in Uruguay (Oct 25)



November 2009
-Mission STS-129... Space shuttle Discovery (Nov 12)
-Sherlock Holmes (Nov 20)
-Presidential elections in Honduras (Nov 29)



December 2009
-Mission STS-130... Space shuttle Endeavour (Dec 10)
-Presidential election in Chile (Dec 11)
-Maiden voyage of the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship (Dec 12)
-Avatar (Dec 18)
-Deadline for implementing the United States’ REAL ID Act (Dec 31)