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RAW: Soyuz rocket blasts #NASA’s Scott Kelly, Russian comrades into space – Video

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RAW: Soyuz rocket blasts #NASA #39;s Scott Kelly, Russian comrades into space
A Soyruz rocket on Friday launched NASA #39;s Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts into space for what will be a year-long mission aboard the International Space Station. The rocket launched...

By: RT America

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RAW: Soyuz rocket blasts #NASA's Scott Kelly, Russian comrades into space - Video

In Praise of NASA's Ambitious Asteroid Grab

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An astronaut examines an asteroid pieced into orbit around the moon in this NASA illustration. Target date for the rendezvous: 2025.

If you pay attention to news about space exploration, you may have seen some skeptical stories about NASAs proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission. (And even if you dont follow such things, you might well have been dismayed by headlines announcing a less ambitious asteroid mission that is unlikely to get funded.) This is not another one of them.

I think the asteroid mission is a cool idea, and an important one. I think it will advance the cause of space exploration in several meaningful ways. And it is exactly the kind of medium-scale, focused mission that could revitalize the whole idea of sending humans on grand adventures beyond Earth orbitif only it can make its way past the naysayers, political opponents, and misguided scientific skeptics who threaten to derail it before it even gets started.

A little background first. The Asteroid Redirect Missioneveryone calls it ARM, because NASA loves to reduce everything to an acronymgrew out of a 2011 study by the Keck Institute for Space Science. The concept was both clever and expedient. NASA is developing a huge rocket, called the Space Launch System (yep: SLS), designed to carry humans on new deep-space voyages, but so far it has nowhere to go. It is a rocket without a destination.

In theory, SLS is supposed to take humans to Mars, but the government has provided no funding for the necessary technical infrastructure, much less for the actual cost of such a lengthy, dangerous, and complicated mission. The Obama administration suggested a human voyage to an asteroid as an intermediate step, but even that would be an expensive, multi-month voyageone that is, again, notably lacking any financial support. Where, then, to go?

The Asteroid Redirect Mission answers that question in a novel way. Instead of taking humans to an asteroid, it would do most of the work robotically (and at much lower cost) by bringing the asteroid most of the way to us. In the original plan, ARM would send a collector spacecraft to a small asteroid, no more than 5 meters [15 feet] wide, and tow it to a local orbit around the moon. Then the SLS rocket would ferry a crew to the asteroid, where they would analyze it, collect samples, and bring them back to Earth.

NASAs revised concept, announced earlier this week, still follows the same outline, but with one notable difference. Instead of grabbing and towing a tiny, solitary asteroid, the ARM spacecraft will now cozy up to a much larger object, pluck a large boulder off its surface, and bring that back to lunar orbit. The rest of the plan would unfold as before. The scientific return would probably be much the same as well. Many small asteroids are probably broken-off bits of larger ones, so a surface boulder on a larger asteroid might turn out to be pretty much the same type of object as the original target.

Looking like a vending-machine claw, the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle snatches a large rock off the surface of an asteroid. This part of the mission is scheduled for 2022. (Credit: NASA)

There are a bunch of reasons to like the Asteroid Redirect Mission:

It will advance our understanding of the solar system. Asteroids are time capsules that record a highly revealing early stage in the formation of the planets. Unmanned space probes have examined a number of asteroids up close, but the only sample-return mission (Japans Hayabusa) largely failed to deliver. Japan is trying again with Hayabusa 2, and NASA is preparing its own asteroid sampler, called OSIRIS-REx. But ARM would collect a sample on a vastly larger scale than has ever been attempted before. Just getting to know the target asteroid (potentially a carbon-rich, 400-meter-wide object called 2008 EV5) will be a great learning experience. And if the boulder proves geologically and chemically interesting, we can return to it again and again.

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In Praise of NASA's Ambitious Asteroid Grab

NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth – Video

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NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth
An asteroid that is 1000-metres wide is set to skim past Earth this week, travelling at more than 23000 mph. The rock, named 2014-YB35, will pass by relatively close to Earth. But that is...

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NASA ALERT Massive Asteroid 2014-YB35 on Near Collision Course with Earth - Video

Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought – Video

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Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought
Astronomers using observations from NASA #39;s Hubble Space Telescope and +NASA #39;s Chandra X-ray Observatory have found that dark matter interacts with itself even less than previously thought...

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Astronomers Find Dark Matter Even Darker than Previously Thought - Video

Astronaut Twins Begin Unprecedented One-Year NASA Study

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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (right) and his twin brother Mark. Credit: Robert Markowitz/NASA

NASA is about to take yet another bold step toward sending humans to Mars.

At 3:42pm Eastern time tomorrow afternoon, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will strap into a Russian rocket and kiss Earth goodbye for an entire year to live on the International Space Station. Meanwhile, his identical twin Mark, a retired NASA astronaut himself, will stay here on Earth. Both men, though serving on vastly different fronts, are the guinea pigs in a big-time NASA study that will examine the physical and psychological effects of extended stays in space.

By comparing changes in the bodies of the 51-year-old men, scientists hope to learn what it will take to safely send humans to Mars, a seven-month undertaking just in travel time.

For decades weve been hearing about sending humans to Mars, but its always been a far-off ambition. But recently, NASA has taken some big steps toward making it a reality. In December 2014, NASAs experimental Orion spacecraft passed its first unmanned flight test. It was a big win for NASA, since Orion is the craft that could someday taxi humans to Mars. A second test run to the Moon and back is planned for 2018.

Friday will mark a further step in the testing of mankinds spaceworthiness. While in space, Scott will undergo regular mental and physical health tests that will leave no stone unturned. Scientists will monitor changes to his vision, gut bacteria, bone density, metabolic activity, behavioral health and more. Back on Earth, his brother Mark will also undergo a series of physical and mental tests.

Scientists will then compare data gathered from the twins to get insights into space-related health effects. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who will also spend a year in space and undergo similar cognitive and physical tests, will join Scott on Fridays launch. Heres more detail on the mission:

The Kelly twins will also have their genomes sequenced, making this the first orbit-versus-Earth comparative analysis of two genetically identical people. Researchers will look at how genes are turned off or on over time, whether any mutations develop, and how telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes, shorten in both men. However, Alexandra Witze points out in Nature, we may never see the results of the genome-wide study if scientists discover sensitive medical information that the twins dont want released.

By the end of the mission, Scott will set an American record for the most consecutive days spent in space. However, cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 438 consecutive days in space aboard the MIR space station, will still hold the world record.

Most missions to the ISS last between four and six months, but even in that time frame the body goes through physical changes such as bone loss, muscle atrophy and, apparently, a strange eye twitch.

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Astronaut Twins Begin Unprecedented One-Year NASA Study

NASA aims to pluck boulder from asteroid, bring it to the moon

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NASA's next marquee mission might be described as the great asteroid boulder pluck.

At a news conference Wednesday, agency officials saidthey had revised their original plan to capture an asteroid and drag it into deep lunar orbit.

The new plan calls for a spacecraft with two robotic arms to remove a boulder of up to 12 feet in length from the surface of an asteroid and bring that into orbit around the moon instead.

The agency still plans to send two astronauts to collect a sample of the boulder once it is in a stable orbit around the moon.

The new plan may seem less dramatic than the original conceptfor the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) first announced in 2013, but NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot said the boulder-plucking plan ultimatelyutilizes more of the technologies needed for humans to eventually get to Mars.

"ARM is an important part of the overall mission of us taking humans further into space," he said. "The systems we are going to bring into play are the kinds of things we know we are going to need when we go to another planetary body."

He added that the new plan also allows for more flexibility within the mission itself.

"There will be a sensor suite on the spacecraft that will let us look at the boulders and make an educated choice about which one we pull up," he said. "We'll also have three to five opportunities to pull up the boulders, lowering the mission risk."

The timeline of the mission, for now, is to launch the spacecraft in 2020 and have it arrive at the asteroid about two years later.

After capturing the boulder, the spacecraft is also to test a new technique, called a gravity tractor, that could be used to alter the orbits of asteroids headed for a collision with Earth. Once the spacecraft has procured the boulder, it will fly in a halo orbit around the asteroid. Lightfoot said that the mass of the boulder combined with the mass of the spacecraft should be able to exert enough gravitational pull to tug the asteroid into a new orbit.

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NASA aims to pluck boulder from asteroid, bring it to the moon

What NASA Can Learn About Space Health From the Kelly Twins

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NASA will examine how a year of zero gravity will affect the human body when Scott Kelly blasts off for an extended stay on the International Space Station.

But NASA isnt just going to look at Kelly and fellow astronaut Mikhail Kornienko. The team also will be following Scott Kellys identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, as an earthbound control group.

Officials hope to understand what exactly happens to a human body hundreds of miles above Earth's surface.

We need to figure out how people are going to live in space for really long periods of time, especially if we want to send somebody to Mars or maybe we want to build a base on the moon," Mark Kelly told ABC News' David Kerley.

There are a number of studies being conducted, with collaborations among various universities, including Stanford University, Colorado State University, Johns Hopkins University and Cornell University.

The astronauts will be subject to a battery of tests looking at things such as muscle mass, bone loss and even the shape of their eyeballs. In a previous NASA study, some astronauts reported a change in vision after the physical shape of their eyeballs changed.

NASA medical officer Dr. Steven Gilmore said being able to compare samples between identical twins would be helpful for the research.

You can look at, in detail, how the genes and the proteins that are made from them change as a result of this unique environment," he told ABC News.

Researchers will look at how genes go "on and off" during space flight and if being away from Earth in the vacuum of space affects proteins in the body.

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What NASA Can Learn About Space Health From the Kelly Twins

NASA wants to orbit a small asteroid around the moon

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SenNASA says it will learn more about what it takes to send astronauts to Mars by practicing with a piece of an asteroid relocated into lunar orbit rather than by snaring and transporting an entire small body.

After detailed studies of both options, NASA on Wednesday unveiled its preference for Plan B -- plucking a 2- to 4-meter diameter boulder off the surface of a larger asteroid and nudging it into a high lunar orbit. Despite a price tag of roughly $100 million more than Plan A, NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot told reporters it's worth the cost.

"It really gives us an opportunity to demonstrate capabilities we're going to need for future human missions beyond low-Earth orbit and then ultimately, to Mars," Lightfoot said.

The option to retrieve a boulder from an asteroid will have a direct impact on planning for future human missions to deep space and begin a new era of spaceflight, he added in statement.

Congress has been lukewarm and occasionally hostile to the initiative, which is estimated to cost about $1.25 billion, plus launch costs.

The mission grew out of President Obamas April 2010 call to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 as a steppingstone to a human mission to Mars. The previous plan to follow up the International Space Station program was to develop a base on the Moon before heading to Mars, but the initiative was canceled due to budget shortfalls.

NASA is now aiming to launch the robotic precursor mission in December 2020. It would arrive at a still-to-be selected asteroid about two years later and begin a survey that would last about a year. Once a suitable boulder was identified, the spacecraft would descend to the surface and deploy a pair of robot arms to grapple the selected target.

NASA also wants to conduct a practice deflection maneuver, technology that one day might be needed to divert an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Ultimately the boulder, still attached to the spacecraft, would be captured by the moons gravity, opening the door for a follow-on visit by astronauts around 2025.

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Relocated asteroid open for business

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NASA wants to orbit a small asteroid around the moon


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