ESA : Big Island, Hawaii .- Isla gigante de Hawaii

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/01/Big_Island_Hawaii

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• Title Big Island, Hawaii
• Released 20/01/2017 10:00 am
• Copyright contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA
• Description
  The volcanic landscape of the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago is pictured in this Sentinel-2A satellite image.
  Located in the central Pacific Ocean, the islands, atolls and islets of Hawaii developed from a hotspot in Earth’s mantle that leaked magma as the Pacific tectonic plate moved northwest, creating a trail of exposed rock.
  The island pictured here is the southeastern-most island – and therefore youngest of the chain – and is volcanically active. We can clearly see the Mauna Loa volcano in the upper left with the darker remnants of lava flows down its gentle slopes. The other active volcano, Kīlauea, can be seen smoking near the centre of the image. Both active volcanos sit within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
  Throughout the image, the brown and black lava flows – the darker being younger – are interspersed with green forests and fields. The clouds in this very high-rainfall area are formed by trade winds from the northeast being blocked by the mountains in the middle of the ocean, which also leads to frequent heavy rainfall.
  On the centre-right side of the image along the coast, we can see a plume of steam where lava flows into the ocean. The lava is seeping out of a fissure in a nearby lava lake and making its way into the ocean.  Nearby, we can also see the discontinuation of a road, cut off by a lava flow.
  This image, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme, was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite on 27 October 2016.
  The Sentinel-2 mission comprises two satellites. Sentinel-2A has been in orbit since 2015; its twin, Sentinel-2B, is set for launch during the night of 6/7 March. Together, the satellites will revisit the same spot over the equator every five days, and even more often at higher latitudes.
• Id 372014

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• Activity Observing the Earth
• Mission Sentinel-2
• System Copernicus
• Keywords Volcanoes , Islands , Satellite image
• Set Earth observation image of the week

ESA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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ayabaca@hotmail.com
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NASA : Promising Worlds Found Around Nearby Ultra-cool Dwarf Star .- Palabras prometedores: Encontrado una Estrella Enana Alrededor y Cercaa una Ultrarefrescante

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Agencia Espacial NASA, sobre el descubrimiento por ESO de la estrella: "Dr. Susan Lederer se encuentra junto al Telescopio UKIRT ubicado en Mauna Kea en la isla de Hawai, que se utilizó para confirmar la existencia de los exoplanetas recientemente descubiertos y restringir sus periodos orbitales. Lederer dice, "Para un pequeño, fresco, estrella tan desprendiendo gran parte de su luz en el, el telescopio infrarrojo UKIRT, diseñado exclusivamente para observaciones en el infrarrojo, era ideal para la confirmación de la existencia de estos planetas del tamaño."

More information............

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/promising-worlds-found-around-nearby-ultra-cool-dwarf-star

This artist’s impression shows an imagined view of the three planets orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. In this view, one of the inner planets is seen in transit across the disc of its tiny and dim parent star.

Credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

Dr. Susan Lederer stands next to the UKIRT Telescope located on Mauna Kea on the island of Hawai’i, which was used to confirm the existence of the newly discovered exoplanets and constrain their orbital periods. Says Lederer, "For such a small, cool, star giving off so much of its light in the infrared, the UKIRT telescope, designed solely for infrared observations, was ideally suited for confirming the existence of these Earth-sized planets.”

Astronomers using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory have discovered three planets with sizes and temperatures similar to those of Venus and Earth, orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star just 40 light-years from Earth.

Michaël Gillon of the University of Liège in Belgium, leading a team of astronomers including Susan M. Lederer of NASA Johnson Space Center, have used the TRAPPIST telescope to observe the star 2MASS J23062928-0502285, now also known as TRAPPIST-1. They found that this dim and cool star faded slightly at regular intervals, indicating that several objects were passing between the star and the Earth. Detailed analysis showed that three planets are present around the star.

TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool dwarf star — it is much cooler and redder than the Sun and barely larger than Jupiter. Despite being so close to the Earth, this star is too dim and too red to be seen with the naked eye or even visually with a large amateur telescope. It lies in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Carrier).

Follow-up observations with larger telescopes, including the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s 8-metre Very Large Telescope in Chile, have shown that the planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 have sizes very similar to that of Earth. Two of the planets have orbital periods of about 1.5 days and 2.4 days respectively, and the third planet has a less well-determined orbital period in the range 4.5 to 73 days.

"With such short orbital periods, the planets are between 20 and 100 times closer to their star than the Earth to the Sun. The structure of this planetary system is much more similar in scale to the system of Jupiter’s moons than to that of the Solar System," explains Michaël Gillon.

Although they orbit very close to their host dwarf star, the inner two planets only receive four times and twice, respectively, the amount of radiation received by the Earth, because their star is much fainter than the Sun. That puts them closer to the star than the so-called habitable zone for this system, defined as having surface temperatures where liquid water can exist, although it is still possible that they possess potentially habitable regions on their surfaces. The third, outer, planet’s orbit is not yet well known, but it probably receives less radiation than the Earth does, but maybe still enough to lie within the habitable zone. The new results will be published in the journal Nature on 2 May 2016.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and K2, the Kepler spacecraft's second mission, will be observing TRAPPIST-1 and its planets later this year.

Fortuitously, two of these planets are transiting the star on May 4, an event that happens only once every two years as seen from Earth. Astronomers hope to make measurements of the atmospheres of both of these planets and look for evidence of water vapor. The Hubble Space Telescope can characterize the atmospheres of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system by observing them as they pass in front of, or transit, their parent star. Hubble astronomers will use spectroscopy to measure starlight as it filters through a planet’s atmosphere.

K2 will observe TRAPPIST-1 as part of their Campaign 12, which is scheduled to take place from Dec. 15 to March 4, 2017. The data are expected to be available at the public archive the end of May 2017.  

K2 will observe tens of transits of the two close-in Earth-sized exoplanets during the approximately 80-day campaign. The continuous and multiple observations will allow for measurements of predicted transit timing variations – the gravitational interaction between planets that cause transits to occur slightly earlier or slightly later than predicted. This will provide estimates of the masses of these exoplanets. Using K2’s mass measurements and TRAPPIST's ground-based size measurements, astronomers can calculate or constrain the density of the exoplanets to determine if they could be rocky worlds.

K2’s observations will also help scientists determine the orbital period of the third planet, and help find any additional small transiting objects in the system.

The TRAPPIST-1 system is an ideal target for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb’s infrared sensitivity will be able to detect carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other molecules common in the atmospheres of the rocky planets in our own solar system.

"Thanks to several giant telescopes currently under construction, including ESO’s E-ELT and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope due to launch for 2018, we will soon be able to study the atmospheric composition of these planets and to explore them first for water, then for traces of biological activity. That's a giant step in the search for life in the Universe," says Julien de Wit, a co-author from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.

The TRAPPIST survey is a prototype for a more ambitious project called SPECULOOS that will be installed at ESO’s Paranal Observatory.

For more information, please go to:http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1615/

Last Updated: May 2, 2016

Editor: Mark Garcia

Tags:  Distant Planets, Hubble Space Telescope, Johnson Space Center, Kepler and K2, Stars, Universe,

April 7, 2016

Searching for Far Out and Wandering Worlds

Astronomers have made great strides in discovering planets outside of our solar system, termed “exoplanets.” In fact, over the past 20 years more than 5,000 exoplanets have been detected beyond the eight planets that call our solar system home.

As an exoplanet passes in front of a more distant star, its gravity causes the trajectory of the starlight to bend, and in some cases results in a brief brightening of the background star as seen by a telescope. The artistic concept illustrates this effect. This phenomenon of gravitational microlensing enables scientists to search for exoplanets that are too distant and dark to detect any other way.

Credits: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle

The majority of these exoplanets have been found snuggled up to their host star completing an orbit (or year) in hours, days or weeks, while some have been found orbiting as far as Earth is to the sun, taking one-Earth-year to circle. But, what about those worlds that orbit much farther out, such as Jupiter and Saturn, or, in some cases, free-floating exoplanets that are on their own and have no star to call home? In fact, some studies suggest that there may be more free-floating exoplanets than stars in our galaxy.

This week, NASA's K2 mission, the repurposed mission of the Kepler space telescope, and other ground-based observatories have teamed up to kick-off a global experiment in exoplanet observation. Their mission: survey millions of stars toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy in search of distant stars' planetary outposts and exoplanets wandering between the stars.

While today's planet-hunting techniques have favored finding exoplanets near their sun, the outer regions of a planetary system have gone largely unexplored. In the exoplanet detection toolkit, scientists have a technique well suited to search these farthest outreaches and the space in between the stars. This technique is called gravitational microlensing.

Gravitational Microlensing

For this experiment, astronomers rely on the effect of a familiar fundamental force of nature to help detect the presence of these far out worlds— gravity. The gravity of massive objects such as stars and planets produces a noticeable effect on other nearby objects.

But gravity also influences light, deflecting or warping, the direction of light that passes close to massive objects. This bending effect can make gravity act as a lens, concentrating light from a distant object, just as a magnifying glass can focus the light from the sun. Scientists can take advantage of the warping effect by measuring the light of distant stars, looking for a brightening that might be caused by a massive object, such as a planet, that passes between a telescope and a distant background star. Such a detection could reveal an otherwise hidden exoplanet.

"The chance for the K2 mission to use gravity to help us explore exoplanets is one of the most fantastic astronomical experiments of the decade," said Steve Howell, project scientist for NASA's Kepler and K2 missions at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "I am happy to be a part of this K2 campaign and look forward to the many discoveries that will be made."

In a global experiment in exoplanet observation, the K2 mission and Earth-based observatories on six continents will survey millions of stars toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Using a technique called gravitational microlensing, scientists will hunt for exoplanets that orbit far from their host star, such as Jupiter is to our sun, and for free-floating exoplanets that wander between the stars. The method allow exoplanets to be found that are up to 10 times more distant than those found by the original Kepler mission, which used the transit technique. The artistic concept illustrates the relative locations of the search areas for NASA's K2 and Kepler missions.

Credits: NASA Ames/W. Stenzel and JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt

 

This phenomenon of gravitational microlensing – “micro” because the angle by which the light is deflected is small – is the effect for which scientists will be looking during the next three months. As an exoplanet passes in front of a more distant star, its gravity causes the trajectory of the starlight to bend, and in some cases results in a brief brightening of the background star as seen by the observatory.

The lensing events caused by a free-floating exoplanet last on the order of a day or two, making the continuous gaze of the Kepler spacecraft an invaluable asset for this technique.

"We are seizing the opportunity to use Kepler's uniquely sensitive camera to sniff for planets in a different way," said Geert Barentsen, research scientist at Ames.

The ground-based observatories will record simultaneous measurements of these brief events. From their different vantage points, space and Earth, the measurements can determine the location of the lensing foreground object through a technique called parallax.

“This is a unique opportunity for the K2 mission and ground-based observatories to conduct a dedicated wide-field microlensing survey near the center of our galaxy," said Paul Hertz, director of the astrophysics division in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. "This first-of-its-kind survey serves as a proof of concept for NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which will launch in the 2020s to conduct a larger and deeper microlensing survey. In addition, because the Kepler spacecraft is about 100 million miles from Earth, simultaneous space- and ground-based measurements will use the parallax technique to better characterize the systems producing these light amplifications."

To understand parallax, extend your arm and hold up your thumb. Close one eye and focus on your thumb and then do the same with the other eye. Your thumb appears to move depending on the vantage point. For humans to determine distance and gain depth perception, the vantage points, our eyes, use parallax.

Flipping the Spacecraft

The Kepler spacecraft trails Earth as it orbits the sun and is normally pointed away from Earth during the K2 mission. But this orientation means that the part of the sky being observed by the spacecraft cannot generally be observed from Earth at the same time, since it is mostly in the daytime sky.

To allow simultaneous ground-based observations, flight operations engineers at Ball Aerospace and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder will perform a maneuver turning the spacecraft around to point the telescope in the forward velocity vector. So, instead of looking towards where it’s been, the spacecraft will look in the direction of where it’s going.

This alignment will yield a viewing opportunity of Earth and the moon as they cross the spacecraft's field of view. On April 14 at 11:50 a.m. PDT (18:50 UT), Kepler will record a full frame image. The result of that image will be released to the public archive in June once the data has been downloaded and processed. Kepler measures the change in brightness of objects and does not resolve color or physical characteristics of an observed object.

Observing from Earth

To achieve the objectives of this important path-finding research and community exercise in anticipation of WFIRST, approximately two-dozen ground-based observatories on six continents will observe in concert with K2. Each will contribute to various aspects of the experiment and will help explore the distribution of exoplanets across a range of stellar systems and distances.

These results will aid in our understanding of both planetary system architectures as well as the frequency of exoplanets throughout our galaxy.

For a complete list of participating observatories, reference the paper that defines the experiment: Campaign 9 of the K2 mission.

During the roughly 80-day observing period or campaign, astronomers hope to discover over 100 lensing events, ten or more of which may have signatures of exoplanets occupying relatively unexplored regimes of parameter space.

Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

For more information about the Kepler and K2 missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

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Noticias de la Segunda Guerra Mundial : Ricardo Rivera Schreiber, el peruano que advirtió a Estados Unidos del ataque a Pearl Harbor

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Agencia de Noticias BBC Mundo, nos sorprende con una información que hubo un peruano que advirtió a los Estados Unidos del eminente ataque al Pearl Harbor, por el Japón, y este fue el embajador del Perú en Japón;   señor Ricardo Rivera Schreiber,

Este hombre fue embajador del Perú en Tokio de 1939 a 1942. En esos años, la embajada peruana recibía un visitante habitual: Yasukisu Suganuma, un traductor japonés.

Este intérprete era además, primo de un trabajador del Ministerio de Marina de Japón, "que le informaba constantemente sobre los preparativos de la escuadra japonesa para enfrentar a Estados Unidos", según el libro Pearl Harbor. La historia secreta, de Juan del Campo Rodríguez, actual ministro del servicio diplomático del Perú.

Image copyright Associated Press

Image caption El ataque a  ocurrió el 7 de diciembre de 1941, pero Japón dejó escapar rumores meses antes.

"Yo no busqué la información. Carecía de medios para ello. Vino a mí directamente de la manera más casual", dijo Ricardo Rivera Schreiber en una entrevista con el periódico peruano El Comercio en febrero de 1949.

La información correspondía a la advertencia que recibió del ataque japonés a Pearl Harbor, la base naval estadounidense en Hawaii, que ocurrió el 7 de diciembre de 1941.

Rivera se enteró en enero de 1941, once meses antes. ¿Cómo se dio esta "casualidad"?

Este hombre fue embajador del Perú en Tokio de 1939 a 1942. En esos años, la embajada peruana recibía un visitante habitual: Yasukisu Suganuma, un traductor japonés.

Este intérprete era además, primo de un trabajador del Ministerio de Marina de Japón, "que le informaba constantemente sobre los preparativos de la escuadra japonesa para enfrentar a Estados Unidos", según el libro Pearl Harbor. La historia secreta, de Juan del Campo Rodríguez, actual ministro del servicio diplomático del Perú.

“La gravedad de mis revelaciones fue captada por Joseph Grew, quien inmediatamente puso un cable al presidente Roosevelt. Hasta aquí llegó mi intervención. No podía ir más allá"

Ricardo Rivera Schreiber

Libro Pearl Harbor. La historia secreta.

El traductor Suganuma nunca había hablado con Rivera Schreiber, pero sí con Felipe Akakawa, "valet" del embajador o jefe del personal de servicio de la delegación peruana.

"Mi valet me contó muchas veces vaticinios (de Suganuma) sobre diversos sucesos de política internacional que siempre se cumplían", recordó Rivera en aquella entrevista del Archivo Histórico de El Comercio.

 

• Presidente Obama recuerda Pearl Harbor

 

Un día de enero de 1941, el intérprete Suganuma llegó como siempre a la embajada peruana en Tokio, pero esta vez, sus predicciones alarmaron a Akakawa.

"Japón poderoso, Japón va a la guerra y destruirá a la escuadra americana", le dijo más tarde el valet a Rivera Schreiber.

"En el centro del Pacífico"

El embajador no prestó mucha atención a la primera advertencia. Pero el valet Akakawa volvió "muy nervioso con la misma información 10 días después". Rivera le preguntó si el ataque sería en San Diego, California, donde Estados Unidos tenía una base naval.

El valet le contestó que no, que sería en el centro del Pacífico. Para el embajador, "el centro del Pacífico era Pearl Harbor".

• En fotos: 70 años de la infamia

 

Este nuevo detalle lo preocupó más. Sin embargo, Rivera seguía dudando de que sea verdad. Hasta que recibió la misma información de una segunda fuente.

Furukido Yoshuda, profesor de la Universidad de Tokio e intérprete del Ministerio de Guerra, era amigo de Rivera. En una visita a la embajada, llegó "presa de gran excitación".

Veía a su país "al borde de una gran desgracia, que le traería la ruina para siempre".

Le dijo al peruano que "el almirante Isoroku Yamamoto había trazado el plan para atacar la escuadra americana en Pearl Harbor y que había un simulacro en una de las islas al sur de Japón".

Las versiones del traductor y del profesor de Tokio coincidían. Entonces Rivera decidió informar a Joseph Grew, embajador estadounidense en Japón.

Advertencia a Estados Unidos

Rivera Schreiber recuerda que Grew envió un cable a Franklin D. Roosevelt, entonces presidente de su país: "Hasta aquí llegó mi intervención. Naturalmente no podía ir más allá. (...)".

Image copyright Libro Pearl Harbor La historia secreta

Image caption Ricardo Rivera Schreiber y Joseph Grew, embajadores de Perú y Estados Unidos en Japón.

Pero según el libro Pearl Harbor. La historia secreta, el embajador Grew envió un cable a Cordell Hull, entonces Secretario de Estado americano, que decía lo siguiente:

"Un funcionario de la embajada fue informado por mi colega peruano que de diversas fuentes, incluida una japonesa, había escuchado que fuerzas militares japonesas planeaban un ataque masivo de sorpresa contra Pearl Harbor en caso de ‘dificultades’ entre el Japón y los Estados Unidos; que el ataque envolvería el uso de todas las facilidades militares japonesas. Mi colega dijo que se veía en la obligación de transmitir esta información porque le había llegado de diversas fuentes, no obstante el plan parecía fantástico".

Image copyright Libro Pearl Harbor La historia secreta

Image caption Joseph Grew, embajador de Estados Unidos en Japón, envió este cable al Secretario de Estado de su país.

Hoy el telegrama puede leerse entre los documentos diplomáticos de las Relaciones Exteriores de los Estados Unidos, digitalizados por la Universidad de Wisconsin.

Hace más de 74 años, el cable pasó por los departamentos de Guerra y de Marina de Estados Unidos y llegó hasta la dirigencia de la flota del Pacífico, narra el libro Pearl Harbor. La historia secreta. Pero no le hicieron caso.

¿Por qué pasó desapercibido?

Según Rivera, consideraron que se trataba solo de un rumor. Además, como se lee, Grew no dice que el peruano hubiera hablado con él directamente, sino con un "funcionario".

Jon Davidann, especialista en relaciones Estados Unidos - Japón, se detiene en la palabra "fantástico", que podía interpretarse como "altamente improbable".

Image copyright AP

Image caption Los japoneses hundieron cinco barcos de guerra durante el ataque a Pearl harbor.

Este profesor de la Hawaii Pacific University explica que en esa época los militares estadounidenses recibían miles de telegramas, toneladas de información:

"Es probable que el cable haya caído en esa pila de mensajes y nadie nunca más lo haya leído".

Es cierto que corrían rumores de guerra con Japón, pero un sector en Estados Unidos creía que las relaciones con ese país se recuperarían. En general, dice Davidann, "había cierta miopía".

Sorpresa fatal

Hasta que una mañana de domingo, el ataque se cumplió. El siete de diciembre de 1941, casi once meses después de la advertencia, los japoneses destruyeron 188 aviones, hundieron 5 barcos de guerra y mataron a más de 2400 americanos en Pearl Harbor.

• El discurso de Roosevelt sobre el ataque a Pearl Harbor

 

Así marcaron el ingreso de Estados Unidos a la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Como habían vaticinado el valet y el profesor Yoshuda, la ofensiva ocurrió, pero esta sorprendió a Rivera Schreiber igual que al resto del mundo.

El libro Ciudadano Fujimori, del periodista peruano Luis Jochamowitz, cita una carta que envió Rivera Schreiber a un amigo:

"Advertí con anticipación del estallido de la guerra y de cuánto ha sucedido con una previsión tal que yo mismo me quedo asombrado".

BBC Mundo en español.
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@Hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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NASA : Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Prepared For Second Flight Test .- Preparado Para Segundo Vuelo de Ensayos Desacelerador Supersonic Baja densidad

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Agencia Espacial NASA, sobre el segundo ensayo de vuelos de su Desacelerador Supersónico de Baja  intensidad.

NASA, así informó: "La segunda prueba de vuelo del desacelerador supersónico de baja densidad de la NASA (LDSD) se intentará el martes 2 de junio a las no antes de las 13:30 hora local (7:30 am HST), el lanzamiento de un vehículo de prueba en forma de platillo propulsado por cohetes en el espacio cercano del Fondo para el Missile Range Pacífico en la isla de Kauai en Hawaii. La ventana de lanzamiento de prueba es de Junio 2-12. En el momento del lanzamiento, un globo gigante llevará el vehículo de prueba a una altitud de 120.000 pies (37.000 metros)..................."

More information.........

 http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/low-density-supersonic-decelerator-prepared-for-second-flight-test-0
 

The second flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) will be attempted on Tuesday, June 2 at no earlier than 1:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 a.m. HST), launching a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The test launch window is from June 2-12. At launch time, a giant balloon will carry the test vehicle to an altitude of 120,000 feet (37,000 meters). After release from the balloon, a booster rocket will lift the disk-shaped vehicle to 180,000 feet (55,000 meters), during which it will accelerate to supersonic speeds. Traveling at about three times the speed of sound, the vehicle’s inner-tube-shaped decelerator, called a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, will inflate and slow the vehicle. Then, at Mach 2.35, its parachute will inflate and gently carry the vehicle to the ocean's surface.

The LDSD project, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, is conducting this full-scale flight test of two breakthrough technologies: a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, or SIAD, and an innovative new parachute. These devices potentially will help us deliver double the current amount of payload — 1.5 metric tons — to the surface of Mars. They also will greatly increase the accessible surface area we can explore, and will improve landing accuracy from a margin of approximately 6.5 miles to a little more than 1 mile. All these factors will dramatically increase the success of future missions on Mars. The LDSD project's successful first flight test was launched on June 28, 2014.

In this photograph, a full mission dress rehearsal is held for the LDSD project, Friday, May 29, 2015, at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, HI.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Last Updated: June 7, 2015

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Image of the Day, Journey to Mars, Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, Space Travel, Technology, Technology Demonstration

 NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com 
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NASA : NASA Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy .- Observan las Primeras Etapas de la Construcción de una Galaxia Gigante

Artist impression of a firestorm of star birth deep inside core of young, growing elliptical galaxy.

Image Credit: 

NASA, Z. Levay, G. Bacon (STScI)

 

Feature Link: 

Full image and caption

 

Astronomers have for the first time caught a glimpse of the earliest stages of massive galaxy construction. The building site, dubbed “Sparky,” is a dense galactic core blazing with the light of millions of newborn stars that are forming at a ferocious rate.

The discovery was made possible through combined observations from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

A fully developed elliptical galaxy is a gas-deficient gathering of ancient stars theorized to develop from the inside out, with a compact core marking its beginnings. Because the galactic core is so far away, the light of the forming galaxy that is observable from Earth was actually created 11 billion years ago, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

Although only a fraction of the size of the Milky Way, the tiny powerhouse galactic core already contains about twice as many stars as our own galaxy, all crammed into a region only 6,000 light-years across. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across.

“We really hadn’t seen a formation process that could create things that are this dense,” explained Erica Nelson of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, lead author of the study. “We suspect that this core-formation process is a phenomenon unique to the early universe because the early universe, as a whole, was more compact. Today, the universe is so diffuse that it cannot create such objects anymore.”

In addition to determining the galaxy’s size from the Hubble images, the team dug into archival far-infrared images from Spitzer and Herschel. This allowed them to see how fast the galaxy core is creating stars. Sparky produced roughly 300 stars per year, compared to the 10 stars per year produced by our Milky Way.

“They’re very extreme environments,” Nelson said. “It’s like a medieval cauldron forging stars. There’s a lot of turbulence, and it’s bubbling. If you were in there, the night sky would be bright with young stars, and there would be a lot of dust, gas, and remnants of exploding stars. To actually see this happening is fascinating.”

Astronomers theorize that this frenzied star birth was sparked by a torrent of gas flowing into the galaxy’s core while it formed deep inside a gravitational well of dark matter, invisible cosmic material that acts as the scaffolding of the universe for galaxy construction.

Observations indicate that the galaxy had been furiously making stars for more than a billion years. It is likely that this frenzy eventually will slow to a stop, and that over the next 10 billion years other smaller galaxies may merge with Sparky, causing it to expand and become a mammoth, sedate elliptical galaxy.

“I think our discovery settles the question of whether this mode of building galaxies actually happened or not,” said team-member Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University. “The question now is, how often did this occur? We suspect there are other galaxies like this that are even fainter in near-infrared wavelengths. We think they’ll be brighter at longer wavelengths, and so it will really be up to future infrared telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to find more of these objects.”

The paper appears in the Aug. 27 issue of the journal Nature.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

For images and more information about Hubble, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

 

Observan las Primeras Etapas de la Construcción de una Galaxia Gigante.-

28.08.14.- Los astrónomos han logrado ver por primera vez las primeras etapas de la construcción galaxia masiva. La obra llamada "Sparky", es un denso núcleo galáctico ardiendo con la luz de millones de estrellas recién nacidas que se están formando a un ritmo feroz.

El descubrimiento fue posible a través de observaciones combinadas de los telescopios espaciales Hubble y Spitzer de la NASA, el Observatorio Keck en Mauna Kea, Hawai, y el observatorio espacial Herschel de la Agencia Espacial Europea, en el que la NASA juega un papel muy importante.

Una galaxia elíptica totalmente desarrollada es una recolección de gas deficiente de estrellas antiguas que, en teoría, se desarrolla desde adentro hacia afuera, con un núcleo compacto que marca sus inicios. Debido a que el núcleo de la galaxia está tan lejos, la luz de la galaxia observable desde la Tierra se creó en realidad hace 11.000 millones de años, sólo 3.000 millones de años después del Big Bang.

Aunque sólo abarca una fracción del tamaño de la Vía Láctea, el pequeño núcleo galáctico ya contiene aproximadamente el doble de estrellas que nuestra propia galaxia, todas hacinadas en una región de sólo 6.000 años luz de diámetro. La Vía Láctea tiene unos 100.000 años luz de diámetro.

"Realmente no habíamos visto un proceso de formación que pudiera crear cosas con esta densidad", dijo Erica Nelson, de la Universidad de Yale en New Haven, Connecticut, y autora principal del estudio. "Tenemos la sospecha de que este proceso de formación del núcleo es un fenómeno exclusivo de los inicios del universo, porque el universo temprano, en su conjunto, era más compacto. Hoy en día, el universo es tan difuso que no puede crear ya este tipo de objetos".

Representación artística de un núcleo galáctico ardiendo con la luz de millones de estrellas recién nacidas. Image Credit: NASA

 

Además de determinar el tamaño de la galaxia a partir de las imágenes del Hubble, el equipo se fijó en imágenes del infrarrojo lejano de los archivos de Spitzer y Herschel. Esto les permitió ver lo rápido que el núcleo de la galaxia está creando estrellas. Sparky produjo alrededor de 300 estrellas por año, en comparación con las 10 estrellas por año producidas por nuestra Vía Láctea.

"Son ambientes muy extremos", dijo Nelson. "Es como una caldera medieval forjando estrellas. Hay mucha turbulencia, y está burbujeando. Si estubiéramos allí, el cielo de la noche sería brillante con estrellas jóvenes, y habría una gran cantidad de polvo, gas y restos de explosiones de estrellas. Realmente ver este acontecimiento es fascinante ".

Los astrónomos teorizan que este nacimiento de estrellas frenético fue provocado por un torrente de gas que fluye en el núcleo de la galaxia, mientras que se formó en el interior de un pozo gravitatorio de la materia oscura, materia cósmica invisible que actúa como el andamiaje del universo para la construcción de la galaxia.

Las observaciones indican que la galaxia estuvo produciendo con furia estrellas durante más de mil millones de años. Es probable que este frenesí, con el tiempo, se ralentice hasta detenerse, y que en los próximos 10.000 millones de años otras galaxias más pequeñas podrían fusionarse con Sparky, haciendo que se expanda y se convierta en una gigantesca y tranquila galaxia elíptica.

"Creo que nuestro descubrimiento resuelve la cuestión de si este modo de construcción de galaxias realmente ocurrió o no", dijo un miembro del equipo, Pieter van Dokkum, de la Universidad de Yale. "La pregunta ahora es, ¿con qué frecuencia ocurre esto? Sospechamos que hay otras galaxias como esta que son aún más débiles en longitudes de onda del infrarrojo cercano. Nosotros creemos que serán más brillantes en longitudes de onda más largas, y serán telescopios infrarrojos como el Telescopio Espacial James Webb de la NASA los que encuentren más de estos objetos ".

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - Rust villages of the deep: In Pele's shadow, iron oxide, or rust, comes to life

Elaborate Hawaiian seamount structures built by iron-oxidizing microbes

Loihi Seamount and its "rust villages": structures built by iron-oxidizing microbes. Credit and Larger Version

August 7, 2014

Pele. Her name brings visions of fire, lightning, wind--and volcanoes. Of the ancient Hawaiian goddesses, Pele, the "lady in the red dress," is the best known.

Locals believe that her powers formed Hawaii's chain of volcanic islands. The word pele means molten lava in Hawaiian. Volcanic eruptions, or Pele's tears, it's said, are her way of expressing red-hot emotions.

Science may offer another explanation.

The island volcanoes of Hawaii are the most recent evidence, researchers say, of an ancient process that created the 3,700-mile-long Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain.

It's what goes on at the base of that chain, hidden in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, that interests marine ecologists David Emerson of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, Craig Moyer of Western Washington University, and Clara Chan of the University of Delaware.

What the scientists found there is "Pele red" in color: Iron oxide, or rust, come to life.

 

Villages of rust in the sea's depths

 

Along the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain at Loihi Seamount--an active submarine volcano 22 miles off the coast of the island of Hawaii and 3,000 feet below sea level--the biologists are conducting research on Zetaproteobacteria, life forms that use iron as an energy source. Zetaproteobacteria form iron-rich microbial mats on Loihi's flanks.

Hydrothermal vents, seafloor geysers that support microbial oases, line Loihi's summit. The hot fluids spewing from the vents contain high levels of iron, turning Loihi's underwater slopes an unusual, and characteristic, orange-red.

This iron-rich cauldron is a perfect environment for Zetaproteobacteria.

"Iron is the fourth most abundant element in Earth's crust," says Emerson, "and is essential for life. For example, iron is the oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin in blood."

What's less known about iron, he says, "is that it can support the growth of an array of microbes."

Zetaproteobacteria are the dominant bacteria in Loihi's iron-rich microbial mats. They're rarely found in other deep-sea or marine habitats, suggesting that they might be restricted to niches where iron is abundant.

Recent discoveries have expanded their range, however, and that of their distant relatives to deep within the ocean crust, iron deposits in salt marshes, and to the corrosion on steel. "They're more cosmopolitan than anyone realized," says Emerson.

In freshwater, their kin are found in roadside ditches, slow-moving streams, wetlands, and on the roots of submerged plants.

"One indicator of their presence is a metallic sheen on the water, which is sometimes mistaken for an oil slick," says Emerson.

A closer look reveals a mat of iron-oxidizing bacteria with linking, filament-like structures. They form an intricate miniature ecosystem, Emerson says.

 

It takes a village...of bacteria

 

"We don't usually think of bacteria as villages," he maintains. "For the Zetaproteobacteria that live at Loihi, that might be a good analogy, though. What they do with rust is remarkable."

These undersea designers fashion "skyscrapers," spires and highways of iron oxide filaments woven together.

"Zetaproteobacteria are the ultimate in sustainable architects," says Chan. "They recycle rusty minerals into building blocks."

With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Emerson, Chan and Moyer are exploring the rust villages to learn the roles of their bacterial builders.

"These bacteria are a rare life form that derives energy out of iron oxidation, that is, they sustain themselves by turning iron into rust," says Anton Post, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

The scientists are also interested in other species that may live side-by-side with Zetaproteobacteria, how the inhabitants all work together, and how the interaction of life and minerals contributes to a rust village.

"One of the fates of the microbial mat ecosystems," Emerson says, "is that they eventually turn into iron-rich stone."

Another is that the iron oxides the bacteria produce are widely dispersed in the ocean, where they're an iron source for plankton and other marine life.

 

Stalk-like structures unique to Zetaproteobacteria

 

The ability of Zetaproteobacteria to form iron oxide structures in sheaths or stalks is unique. These hallmarks, scientists say, are easily recognized under a microscope.

"Electron microscopy shows subtle differences that may be diagnostic of different populations of the bacteria," says Emerson.

"Zetas" can produce huge amounts of iron oxides connected by sheaths; 100 cells might crank out as much as three feet of sheath in one day. This complex matrix shunts water and nutrient flow in the villages.

The microbes may also influence geochemical cycling and mineral deposition on larger scales.

 

Zetas to the rescue?

 

Zetaproteobacteria colonize steel exposed to seawater, where they foster the release of iron from the steel's surface.

Water treatment managers view the bacteria's relatives as nuisances that clog wells, foul and corrode pipelines, and lead to unsightly red water.

But now the Zetas' and their freshwater cousins' beneficial sides are coming to light.

The iron oxides they produce can act as filters, removing toxic metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium. The rust Zetas form also gets rid of organic pollutants such as pesticides, as well as nutrients like phosphorus that lead to overgrowth of algae in waterways, fast becoming a major problem in the Great Lakes and elsewhere.

The influence of Zetaproteobacteria and their clan may be far-reaching, spilling well beyond ocean depths.

Not so different from another architect who builds elaborate structures in shades of red: Pele herself.

--	Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Related Programs Biological Oceanography

Related WebsitesNSF Grant: Collaborative Research: Ecology of microbial mats at seamount associated Fe-rich hydrothermal vent systems (David Emerson):

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155754&HistoricalAwards=false
NSF Grant: Collaborative Research: Ecology of microbial mats at seamount associated Fe-rich hydrothermal vent systems (Clara Chan):

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155290&HistoricalAwards=false
NSF Grant: Collaborative Research: Ecology of microbial mats at seamount associated Fe-rich hydrothermal vent systems (Craig Moyer):

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155756&HistoricalAwards=false

Three-dimensional view of Loihi Seamount, with depths below the ocean surface in meters.
Credit and Larger Version

Veil-like structures cover Loihi's summit; they're composed of sheath-forming bacteria.
Credit and Larger Version

Scientists collect microbial mat samples from the seamount's iron-oxidizing bacteria community.
Credit and Larger Version

Aboard ship, scientists process samples of Zetaproteobacteria from Loihi's flanks.
Credit and Larger Version

Scanning electron micrograph shows the bacteria's delicate iron-oxide-encrusted sheaths.
Credit and Larger Versión

 

The National Science Foundation (NSF)

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA : First LDSD Test Flight a Success .- NASA: Prueba con rotundo éxito su platillo volador que podrís enviar a Marte con humanos....

Hours after the June 28, 2014, test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator over the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range, the saucer-shaped test vehicle is lifted aboard the Kahana recovery vessel.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hours after the June 28, 2014, test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator over the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range, two members of the Navy's Explosive Ordinance Disposal swim towards the test vehicle. In the background, the recovery vessel Mana'o II.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The LDSD test vehicle is unseen at the tip of the slash-like contrail at the upper left of this image. Just to the right of the contrail, and about a third of the way up, is the balloon that carried the saucer.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The first "flown" test vehicle of Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator project relaxes aboard the recovery vessel Kahana.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hours after its successful engineering flight, the first test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator project is lifted aboard the recovery vessel Kahana.

Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

NASA representatives participated in a media teleconference this morning to discuss the June 28, 2014 near-space test flight of the agency's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), which occurred off the coast of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.

A high-altitude balloon launch occurred at 8:45 a.m. HST (11:45 a.m. PDT/2:45 p.m. EDT) from the Hawaiian island facility. At 11:05 a.m. HST (2:05 p.m. PDT/5:05 p.m. EDT), the LDSD test vehicle dropped away from the balloon as planned and began powered flight. The balloon and test vehicle were about 120,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean at the time of the drop. The vehicle splashed down in the ocean at approximately 11:35 a.m. HST (2:35 p.m. PDT/5:35 p.m. EDT), after the engineering test flight concluded. The test vehicle hardware, black box data recorder and parachute were all recovered later in the day.

"We are thrilled about yesterday's test," said Mark Adler, project manager for LDSD at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "The test vehicle worked beautifully, and we met all of our flight objectives. We have recovered all the vehicle hardware and data recorders and will be able to apply all of the lessons learned from this information to our future flights."

This test was the first of three planned for the LDSD project, developed to evaluate new landing technologies for future Mars missions. While this initial test was designed to determine the flying ability of the vehicle, it also deployed two new landing technologies as a bonus. Those landing technologies will be officially tested in the next two flights, involving clones of the saucer-shaped vehicle.

"Because our vehicle flew so well, we had the chance to earn 'extra credit' points with the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator [SIAD]," said Ian Clark, principal investigator for LDSD at JPL. "All indications are that the SIAD deployed flawlessly, and because of that, we got the opportunity to test the second technology, the enormous supersonic parachute, which is almost a year ahead of schedule."

The Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) is a large, doughnut-shaped first deceleration technology that deployed during the flight. The second is an enormous parachute (the Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute). Imagery downlinked in real-time from the test vehicle indicates that the parachute did not deploy as expected, and the team is still analyzing data on the parachute so that lessons learned can be applied for the next test flights, scheduled for early next year.

In order to get larger payloads to Mars, and to pave the way for future human explorers, cutting-edge technologies like LDSD are critical. Among other applications, this new space technology will enable delivery of the supplies and materials needed for long-duration missions to the Red Planet.

"This entire effort was just fantastic work by the whole team and is a proud moment for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate," said Dorothy Rasco, deputy associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This flight reminds us why NASA takes on hard technical problems, and why we test - to learn and build the tools we will need for the future of space exploration. Technology drives exploration, and yesterday's flight is a perfect example of the type of technologies we are developing to explore our solar system."

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the LDSD mission, a cooperative effort led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA's Technology Demonstration Mission program manages LDSD at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia, coordinated support with the Pacific Missile Range Facility and provided the balloon systems for the LDSD test.

For more information about the LDSD space technology demonstration misión:

  http://go.usa.gov/kzZQ

For more information about the Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

  http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

The follow-along page from the media teleconference can be found at:

 http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/ldsd/telecon2014/

NASA prueba "platillo volador" que podría llevar humanos a Marte

La agencia espacial lanzó a la atmósfera terrestre un "platillo volador" que le permite probar tecnologías con las que algún día espera transportar a humanos a Marte, en un ensayo que concluyó con éxito cuando la enorme nave con forma de disco cayó en el lugar esperado en el Océano Pacífico.

El Desacelerador Supersónico de Baja Densidad (LDSD, en sus siglas en inglés), más conocido como "platillo volador" incluso al interior de la NASA, fue lanzado hacia la atmósfera la mañana del sábado desde la isla hawaiana de Kauai, adherido a un globo gigantesco. 

Pese a que el paracaídas de la nave no se desplegó del todo al concluir la misión, la NASA fue capaz de recuperar el "platillo" a la hora prevista de la misma tarde, cuando el disco se desprendió del globo y cayó al océano. 

La misión, valorada en 150 millones de dólares, busca generar una alternativa a las tecnologías desarrolladas hace décadas que la agencia espacial estadounidense sigue usando para sus vuelos de exploración a Marte, con el fin de poder enviar algún día humanos al planeta rojo. 

El vuelo levantó el LDSD a unos 36.000 metros de altura, donde el globo de helio se desprendió del platillo justo cuando un cohete adherido a la nave se prendía, lo que impulsó el gigantesco disco hasta los 54.000 metros de altura al cuádruple de la velocidad del sonido. 

Eso permitió probar la reacción del vehículo a la atmósfera propia de Marte, que es similar a la de los 54.000 metros de altura. 

Una vez completado el ascenso, el disco desplegó una especie de paracaídas para ralentizar su descenso a la Tierra y tres horas más tarde cayó en el Océano Pacífico. 

La NASA planea hacer próximamente más vuelos para seguir probando la resistencia del aparato, pero hoy declaró la misión un éxito. 

"Queremos probar esta tecnología aquí, porque es más barato, para estar seguros de que va a funcionar antes de enviarla a Marte", señaló a principios de este mes el responsable del proyecto, Mark Adler.

TENDENCIAS
La Tercera.
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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