Dawn Update: Do Dwarves Live Inside This Mountain? (A Reference to THE HOBBIT...)

NASA / JPL - Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA

The Lonely Mountain (Press Release)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft spotted this tall, conical mountain on Ceres from a distance of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The mountain, located in the southern hemisphere, stands 4 miles (6 kilometers) high. Its perimeter is sharply defined, with almost no accumulated debris at the base of the brightly streaked slope.

The image was taken on August 19, 2015. The resolution of the image is 450 feet (140 meters) per pixel.

Dawn's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital ATK, Inc., in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

Source: NASA.Gov

Photos of the Day: The InSight Lander Makes More Progress on the Path to Launch...

NASA / Lockheed Martin

Just felt liking sharing these photos showing engineers at the Lockheed Martin facility near Denver, Colorado as they inspect the heat shield and aeroshell that will enshroud and protect NASA's InSight lander during its 6-month journey to Mars next year. With the exception of the science instruments that it will use to study the interior of the Red Planet's surface, most of InSight's flight components are derived from the Phoenix spacecraft that successfully touched down on Mars in early 2008. InSight will hopefully capitalize on that triumph by using this heritage hardware to help it make a flawless landing of its own in late September of 2016. Stay tuned.


NASA / Lockheed Martin


NASA / Lockheed Martin


NASA / Lockheed Martin

Video of the Day: The F-35 Unleashes Its Gat...

F-35 Integrated Test Force

Just thought I'd share this cool video (well, uncool if you're a cost-conscious yuppie pacifist who wants to rein in the Pentagon's budget and remove funding from awesome military programs like this one; no, this doesn't apply to me) of an F-35A Lightning II aircraft firing 181 rounds from its 25mm Gatling gun that's located on the port-side of its fuselage. The weapons test took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California on August 14. The cannon is hidden behind a small door to minimize the F-35's radar signature... It is, after all, the fifth-generation brethren of the stealthy F-22 Raptor. Unlike the Raptor, however, the F-35 fleet will consist of much more than 195 aircraft (the total amount of Raptors built) and will be used by other nations such as Israel, Great Britain, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Turkey and Norway. More than 2,400 F-35s are planned to be used by the United States alone (by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy). The F-35A is the U.S. Air Force's variant of the Lightning II.

Airborne testing of the F-35's cannon will begin later this year, while the gun will officially become operational in 2017...one or two years before the F-35C (the U.S. Navy's version of the fighter jet) enters military service. The F-35A becomes operational next year while the F-35B (the Marines' variant) became ready for combat last month.

Another Cool Selfie from Mars...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

Curiosity Low-Angle Self-Portrait at 'Buckskin' Drilling Site on Mount Sharp (Press Release)

This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle above the "Buckskin" rock target, where the mission collected its seventh drilled sample. The site is in the "Marias Pass" area of lower Mount Sharp.

The scene combines dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The 92 component images are among MAHLI Sol 1065 raw images at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1065&camera=MAHLI. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide.

Curiosity drilled the hole at Buckskin during Sol 1060 (July 30, 2015). Two patches of pale, powdered rock material pulled from Buckskin are visible in this scene, in front of the rover. The patch closer to the rover is where the sample-handling mechanism on Curiosity's robotic arm dumped collected material that did not pass through a sieve in the mechanism. Sieved sample material was delivered to laboratory instruments inside the rover. The patch farther in front of the rover, roughly triangular in shape, shows where fresh tailings spread downhill from the drilling process. The drilled hole, 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter, is at the upper point of the tailings.

The rover is facing northeast, looking out over the plains from the crest of a 20-foot (6-meter) hill that it climbed to reach the Marias Pass area. The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater’s northern rim dominates the horizon on the left and right of the mosaic.

A portion of this selfie cropped tighter around the rover is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19808. Another version of the wide view, presented in a projection that shows the horizon as a circle, is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19806.

MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This yielded a view that includes the rover's "belly," as in a partial self-portrait (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16137) taken about five weeks after Curiosity's August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater. Before sending Curiosity the arm-positioning commands for this Buckskin belly panorama, the team previewed the low-angle sequence of camera pointings on a test rover in California. A mosaic from that test is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810.

This selfie at Buckskin does not include the rover's robotic arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. Shadows from the rest of the arm and the turret of tools at the end of the arm are visible on the ground. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16468), "John Klein" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16937), "Windjana" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18390) and "Mojave" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19142).

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS

InSight Update: NASA's New Campaign to Leave Your Name on the Red Planet!

NASA / JPL - Caltech / Lockheed Martin

Send Your Name to Mars on NASA's Next Red Planet Mission (Press Release)

Mars enthusiasts around the world can participate in NASA’s journey to Mars by adding their names to a silicon microchip headed to the Red Planet aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander, scheduled to launch next year.

"Our next step in the journey to Mars is another fantastic mission to the surface," said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "By participating in this opportunity to send your name aboard InSight to the Red Planet, you're showing that you're part of that journey and the future of space exploration."

Submissions will be accepted until September 8. To send your name to Mars aboard InSight, go to:

http://go.usa.gov/3Aj3G
The fly-your-name opportunity comes with “frequent flier” points to reflect an individual's personal participation in NASA’s journey to Mars, which will span multiple missions and multiple decades. The InSight mission offers the second such opportunity for space exploration fans to collect points by flying their names aboard a NASA mission, with more opportunities to follow.

Last December, the names of 1.38 million people flew on a chip aboard the first flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts to deep space destinations including Mars and an asteroid. After InSight, the next opportunity to earn frequent flier points will be NASA's Exploration Mission-1, the first planned test flight bringing together the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule in preparation for human missions to Mars and beyond.

InSight will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in March 2016 and land on Mars September 28, 2016. The mission is the first dedicated to the investigation of the deep interior of the planet. It will place the first seismometer directly on the surface of Mars to measure Martian quakes and use seismic waves to learn about the planet's interior. It also will deploy a self-hammering heat probe that will burrow deeper into the ground than any previous device on the Red Planet. These and other InSight investigations will improve our understanding about the formation and evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth.

Source: NASA.Gov

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(STAR WARS CELEBRATION) I'm About Four Months Late, But Oh Well...

Back on April 16 and 17, I went to the Anaheim Convention Center in Orange County, California, to attend the latest Star Wars Celebration. Originally, I was only supposed to go on the 16th, but I didn't find the location for The Force Awakens' movie prop exhibit till later that day (right when the exhibit closed). I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to see Kylo Ren's lightsaber hilt, the armor used by First Order Flametroopers and Snowtroopers as well as a desert attire worn by Daisy Ridley (who plays Rey) in person. So I dished out another 65 bucks to return to the Anaheim Convention Center the following day. Anyways, click on the link below to check out the 75 photos that I took at Star Wars Celebration. And celebrate some more: The theatrical release for Star Wars: Episode VII is a little over 4 months away! If you live here in the United States, that is.

LINK: Click here for more images from the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim

Akatsuki Update: Less Than Four Months from (Another) Venus Arrival...

JAXA

Akatsuki: Orbit successfully controlled‏ (Press Release - August 5)

JAXA performed an orbit control maneuver for the Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki in late July in preparation for its re-injection into the Venus orbit scheduled for December 7, 2015. According to the analysis of telemetry data acquired up to August 2, the orbit control and correction was successfully conducted as scheduled by 5:30 PM on August 4. (All dates and time are Japan Standard Time.)

Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Back in the Day: Soaring Above San Diego...

Today marks 10 years since I went skydiving for the very first time! The jump took place at Skydive San Diego from an altitude of 13,000 feet...which was also the same altitude when I leaped out of another aircraft above Skydive Perris nine months later. I went on to skydive two more times—in 2013 with the HALO jump in Tennessee (at an altitude of 29,190 feet), and last year at Skydive Elsinore for my 35th birthday (at an altitude of 12,500 feet). Will I go skydiving again, you ask? Hm. What do you think?

The Dark Side of the Moon...in Broad Daylight!

NASA / NOAA

From a Million Miles Away, NASA Camera Shows Moon Crossing Face of Earth (Press Release)

A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured a unique view of the moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth last month. The series of test images shows the fully illuminated “dark side” of the moon that is never visible from Earth.

The images were captured by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope on the DSCOVR satellite orbiting 1 million miles from Earth. From its position between the sun and Earth, DSCOVR conducts its primary mission of real-time solar wind monitoring for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

EPIC maintains a constant view of the fully illuminated Earth as it rotates, providing scientific observations of ozone, vegetation, cloud height and aerosols in the atmosphere. Once EPIC begins regular observations next month, the camera will provide a series of Earth images allowing study of daily variations over the entire globe. About twice a year the camera will capture the moon and Earth together as the orbit of DSCOVR crosses the orbital plane of the moon.

These images were taken between 3:50 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, showing the moon moving over the Pacific Ocean near North America. The North Pole is in the upper left corner of the image, reflecting the orbital tilt of Earth from the vantage point of the spacecraft.

The far side of the moon was not seen until 1959 when the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft returned the first images. Since then, several NASA missions have imaged the lunar far side in great detail. The same side of the moon always faces an earthbound observer because the moon is tidally locked to Earth. That means its orbital period is the same as its rotation around its axis.

In May 2008 NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft captured a similar view of Earth and the moon from a distance of 31 million miles away. The series of images showed the moon passing in front of our home planet when it was only partially illuminated by the sun.

EPIC’s “natural color” images of Earth are generated by combining three separate monochrome exposures taken by the camera in quick succession. EPIC takes a series of 10 images using different narrowband spectral filters -- from ultraviolet to near infrared -- to produce a variety of science products. The red, green and blue channel images are used in these color images.

Combining three images taken about 30 seconds apart as the moon moves produces a slight but noticeable camera artifact on the right side of the moon. Because the moon has moved in relation to the Earth between the time the first (red) and last (green) exposures were made, a thin green offset appears on the right side of the moon when the three exposures are combined. This natural lunar movement also produces a slight red and blue offset on the left side of the moon in these unaltered images.

The lunar far side lacks the large, dark, basaltic plains, or maria, that are so prominent on the Earth-facing side. The largest far side features are Mare Moscoviense in the upper left and Tsiolkovskiy crater in the lower left. A thin sliver of shadowed area of moon is visible on its right side.

“It is surprising how much brighter Earth is than the moon," said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Our planet is a truly brilliant object in dark space compared to the lunar surface.”

Once EPIC begins regular observations next month, NASA will post daily color images of Earth to a dedicated public website. These images, showing different views of the planet as it rotates through the day, will be available 12 to 36 hours after they are acquired.

DSCOVR is a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the U.S. Air Force with the primary objective of maintaining the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Not Like Jim and Pam...

So earlier today, I drove down to Laguna Woods in Orange County, CA, to attend the wedding of Nancy. It was a small ceremony...with less than 40 of us in attendance, and Nancy didn't even have a DJ to play music during her reception afterwards (she played songs from a CD player placed near her table). There was no music when she walked down the aisle either. Anyways, those are beside the point. After 8 years of being in a relationship with him, and a little over 3 years since she got engaged, Nancy finally tied the knot with Roy (I'm making another reference to The Office; it's not his real name). Now, for those of you wondering about The Office allusion in the headline of this Blog entry, a previous post (which was linked to in the opening sentence above) compared my situation to that of Jim Halpert. He was secretly in love with Pam Beesly at Dunder Mifflin for 3 years even though he knew that she was engaged to Roy for more than 8. Halpert secretly bided his time until the moment was right for him to express his feelings for Pam...and despite a hiccup along the way (Pam chose to stay faithful to Roy, prompting Jim to futilely move from Scranton to Stamford to get away from her), Jim and Pam eventually found their way into each other's arms, and would get married in Season 6 of The Office. And then they moved to Austin, Texas by Season 9 (in the series finale) so Jim could pursue a job at a sports marketing company with Pam and their two kids at his side.

Unfortunately, the happy ending for a fictional couple on a now-defunct NBC TV show won't apply to me here. This is the first time ever that I attended the wedding of a girl who I still had strong feelings for. Clearly, Nancy wanted me to show up to Orange County, seeing as how she first texted me about the wedding invitation she sent (yes, I was very devastated when I saw the invitation upon opening that text) and asked if the information was clear enough for other guests to understand (I told her that she should mention the start times for the wedding and the reception separately on the invitation), and then texted me again to tell me about the dress code for her ceremony. She preferred casual business attire even though I ended up wearing a black pinstripe suit.

For me, it was a given that I'd attend Nancy's wedding. Two years ago, I felt that it would actually be a big victory if I became close enough to Nancy that she invited me to her ceremony...whenever it would be (Yes, there are so many flaws with that sentence I just typed.) The big question was: Should I buy Nancy a wedding gift? As someone who wished that our situation could've been like Jim and Pam, it's probably detrimental to show too much support for Nancy and Roy by not only seeing them tie the knot in person, but also giving them a wedding card with $100 in cash stuffed inside of it. Yes, that's how much I gave this couple earlier today.

Did I take photos at Nancy's ceremony, you asked? Yes I did. And yes, they are now posted on my main website. (I'll give you the luxury of finding those photos yourself!) I don't know if the situation between me and Nancy will one day deteriorate to the point where I feel compelled to remove those pics from my webpage, nor do I want to find out. (Remember Denise? If we took a hypothetical photo together back in college and then posted it on my site, I wonder if I would've deleted it by now considering that the situation between us is, most decisively, a debacle.) I could continue typing and typing, but I'll just end this entry here since it could be as long as a research paper if I decided to express every single feeling I was experiencing right now. Would I say 'yes' if Nancy asks me to go hiking again? Yes, I would. I'm not gonna burn bridges with her. Would I go out of my way to ask Nancy if she wanted to go hiking, you ask? Hm— Good question. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder...although in this case, the heart is fond for another heart that unfortunately can no longer (or never did) reciprocate the feeling. Have a good night.