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By: dailybleep
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Jupiter #39;s Great Red Spot is Shrinking | Space Science Full HD Video
More space news and info at: http://www.coconutsciencelab.com - observations as far back as the late 1800s estimated the Great Red Spot to span about 41000 kilometers at its widest point....
By: CoconutScienceLab
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Shrinking | Space Science Full HD Video - Video
The escalating tension between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine has reached a new altitude: space.
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the two superpowers set aside their mistrust and agreed to build a massive orbiting outpost as a symbol of a new era of cooperation in space exploration. But now that partnership is under serious strain.
After Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin this week said his nation might no longer allow U.S. astronauts access to its launch vehicles and may use the International Space Station without American participation, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee pressed NASA for answers about the how the U.S. could respond.
Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet, Russia has provided launches for U.S. astronauts, at $71 million each.
"Dropping out of ISS is a high-profile move on Russia's part," said Marco A. Caceres, space analyst for the aerospace research firm Teal Group Corp. of Fairfax, Va. "They're pulling the rug out from under the Americans. It's a move of national pride that plays well in Russia."
Indeed, after railing against U.S. sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, Rogozin, chief of the Russian space and defense sectors, suggested that "the U.S.A. ... bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline."
Rogozin's threat is too significant for the U.S. to ignore, said Loren B. Thompson, an aerospace and defense expert at the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
"The central assumptions of the Obama administration space policy are no longer valid," he said.
The space station is just one example of how the trouble in Ukraine is undermining aerospace trade between the two leaders in space travel. Russia has threatened to suspend exports of rocket engines, which are used to help launch U.S. Air Force satellites. And it has threatened to suspend cooperation on navigational systems that depend on outposts in Russia.
The U.S. helped fund the Russian program in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. And when the shuttle Columbia burned up on reentry in 2003, killing seven, the Russians agreed to help ferry U.S. astronauts back and forth to space.
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When Virgin Galactics first commercial flight accelerates to space carrying Richard Branson, the billionaire owner of the company, and his family, David Mackay is likely to be at the controls.
Mackay, 57, is the chief pilot of the worlds first airline to space, and company officials are increasingly confident that the inaugural flight will lift off from Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M., this year. More than 700 people have bought flight tickets, which now sell for $250,000 each.
It looks like everything is coming together, said Mackay, in a mellow Scottish brogue.
Mackay is a fitting aviator for a new era of space travel. He has flown some of the oldest and slowest planes, including a 1909 Blriot, the type that made the first flight across the English Channel. Hes also flown 747s and British Harrier jets. With Virgin Galactic, he will be going much faster and higher.
Growing up in Scotland in the 1960s, Mackay was captivated by NASAs push to put astronauts on the moon. Royal Air Force jets regularly roared above Helmsdale, the village on the east coast of Scotland where he lived, training to fly low over hilly terrain. When he learned that NASAs astronauts were mostly former military test pilots, Mackay plotted a career path: He would fly Royal Air Force fighter jets, become a test pilot and then an astronaut to go to the moon and Mars.
That Britain did not have a space program did not deter him.
In the navet of youth, I didnt know that, he said. I thought by the time I was in my 20s or early 30s, this was something that would be routine.
Mackay did join the RAF and become a test pilot. But NASA astronauts stopped going to the moon after 1972, and Mackay could not follow in their footsteps. When he reached his mid-30s, he, like most test pilots, moved to a managerial position behind a desk, which was not where he wanted to be.
He left the RAF in 1995 and became a pilot for Virgin Atlantic, the British airline founded by Branson a job that offered unexpected career opportunities.
Virgin sponsored the successful effort by the billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett to become the first person to fly solo and nonstop around the world without refueling. Mackay traveled to Mojave, Calif., in 2004 to meet with Burt Rutan, the designer of Fossetts airplane, the GlobalFlyer, and to review the technical documentation. (Fossett died in a plane crash in California in 2007.)
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Virgin Galactic chief pilot ready to fly 1st paying customers to space
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a little less great than it used to be.
New images of the spot taken in April by the Hubble Space Telescope indicate that its about 10,250 miles across, according to Amy Simon, an expert on Jupiters atmosphere at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Thats the smallest its been since astronomers began keeping track of it more than 100 years ago.
The Great Red Spot is actually a giant anticyclonic storm thats bigger than Earth. Inside the storm, winds can reach speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour, according to the European Space Agencys Hubble team.
Hubbles latest observations show that very small eddies are feeding into the storm, Simon said in a statement from NASA. The eddies may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot, she said.
In the late 1800s, astronomers estimated that the storm was 25,500 miles wide big enough to fit three Earths side by side. By the time Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flew by in 1979, the spot was only 14,500 miles across.
Hubble, which launched in 1990, took a picture of the Great Red Spot in 1995 that showed the storm was slightly more than 13,020 miles wide. Another photo from 2009 pegged it at only 11,130 miles wide, according to NASA.
The shrinking accelerated in 2012, with the storm losing about 580 miles each year. In the process, the once-oval spot has become more circular, NASA says.
Simon says she plans to investigate whether the eddies Hubble witnessed are changing the storms momentum. In the meantime, the source of the spots shrinking remains a mystery.
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Hubble catches Jupiter's Great Red Spot in the act of shrinking
The escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine have reached a new altitude: space.
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the two super powers set aside their mistrust and agreed to build a massive orbiting outpost as a symbol of a new era of cooperation in space exploration. But now that partnership is under serious strain.
After Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin this week said his nation might no longer allow U.S. astronauts access to its launch vehicles and may use the International Space Station without American participation, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on Thursday pressed NASA for answers about the how the U.S. could respond.
Since the retirement of the space shuttle, Russia has provided launches for U.S. astronauts, for $71 million each.
Dropping out of ISS is a high-profile move on Russias part, said Marco A. Caceres, space analyst for the aerospace research firm Teal Group Corp. of Fairfax, Va. Theyre pulling the rug out from under the Americans. Its a move of national pride that plays well in Russia.
Indeed, after railing against U.S. sanctions in response to Russias annexation of Crimea, Rogozin, chief of the Russian space and defense sectors, suggested that the U.S.A. ... bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline.
Rogozins threat is too significant for the U.S. to ignore, said Loren B. Thompson, an aerospace and defense expert at the Lexington Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
The central assumptions of the Obama administration space policy are no longer valid, he said.
The space station is just one example of how the mess in Ukraine is undermining aerospace trade between the two leaders in space travel. Russia has threatened to suspend exports of rocket engines, which are used to help launch U.S. Air Force satellites. And it has threatened to suspend cooperation on navigational systems that depend on outposts in Russia.
The U.S. helped fund the Russian program in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. And when the shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry in 2003, killing seven, the Russians agreed to help ferry U.S. astronauts back and forth to space.
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US-Russia tension could affect space station, Air Force satellites
Virgin Galactic's CEO says his company is aiming to take passengers beyond 62 miles (100 kilometers) in altitude, but they'll be counted as space travelers if they just rise above the 50-mile mark.
That 12-mile span highlights differences in definitions of the outer-space boundary, as well as questions about the initial capabilities of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane. The spacecraft is expected to go through a series of flight tests over the coming months, setting the stage for commercial passenger operations.
Does going up a mere 50 miles count as spaceflight? That question was raised in a series of reports over the past week that took a close look at Virgin Galactic's policy.
100 kilometers vs. 50 miles
According to the International Aeronautical Federation, a flight goes astronautical when it crosses the 100-kilometer line, also known as the Karman Line. That was also the definition of space used for the $10 million Ansari X Prize a decade ago, and Virgin Galactic has referred to the 100-kilometer definition numerous times since then.
However, the U.S. military has historically awarded astronaut wings to pilots who rose above 50 miles (80 kilometers) during the 1960s. NASA followed that definition for its X-15 test pilots although three of those pilots didn't get their astronaut wings until 2005, 40 years after they flew. (One of them, Bill Dana, died last week at the age of 83.)
It's the 50-mile definition, rather than the 100-kilometer definition, that's written into the formal agreements for Virgin Galactic's customers. "Fifty miles has been in there from the start," George T. Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's chief executive officer, told NBC News on Friday.
More than 700 customers have paid as much as $250,000 for the space experience which would give them several minutes of weightlessness, a view of the curving Earth beneath the black sky of space, and a roller-coaster re-entry that involves as much as 6 G's of acceleration. That experience would be much the same at 50 miles as at 62 miles, though with somewhat less time spent in zero-G.
Step-by-step approach
Whitesides said Virgin Galactic is targeting the 100-kilometer altitude and beyond, but added that "we have to prove that out in our test program."
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To Space or Not to Space? Virgin Galactic Addresses the Question
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Boeing CST-100 manned space capsule in free flight in low Earth orbit will transport astronaut crews to the International Space Station. Credit: Boeing Story updated
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL Boeing expects to begin assembly operations of our commercial CST-100 manned capsule soon at the Kennedy Space Center, Chris Ferguson, commander of NASAs final shuttle flight and now director of Boeings Crew and Mission Operations told Universe Today in an exclusive one-on-one interview about Boeings space efforts. In part 1, Ferguson described the maiden orbital test flights to the ISS set for 2017 here.
In part 2, we focus our discussion on Boeings strategy for building and launching the CST-100 space taxi as a truly commercial space endeavor.
To begin I asked; Where will Boeing build the CST-100?
The CST-100 will be manufactured at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida inside a former shuttle hanger known as Orbiter Processing Facility 3, or OPF-3, which is now [transformed into] a Boeing processing facility, Ferguson told me. Over 300 people will be employed.
Chris Ferguson, last Space Shuttle Atlantis commander, tests the Boeing CST-100 capsule which may fly US astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017. Ferguson is now Boeings director of Crew and Mission Operations for the Commercial Crew Program vying for NASA funding. Credit: NASA/Boeing
During the shuttle era, all three of NASAs Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs) were a constant beehive of activity for thousands of shuttle workers busily refurbishing the majestic orbiters for their next missions to space. But following Fergusons final flight on the STS-135 mission to the ISS in 2011, NASA sought new uses for the now dormant facilities.
So Boeing signed a lease for OPF-3 with Space Florida, a state agency that spent some $20 million modernizing the approximately 64,000 square foot hanger for manufacturing by ripping out all the no longer needed shuttle era scaffolding, hardware and equipment previously used to process the orbiters between orbital missions.
Boeing takes over the OPF-3 lease in late June 2014 following an official handover ceremony from Space Florida. Assembly begins soon thereafter.
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Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured.
According to Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across, less than half the size of some historical measurements. Astronomers have followed this downsizing since the 1930s.
Historic observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis.
NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across.
In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across.
Beginning in 2012, amateur observations revealed a noticeable increase in the rate at which the spot is shrinking by 580 miles per year changing its shape from an oval to a circle.
In our new observations it is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm, said Simon. We hypothesized these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot.
Simon's team plans to study the motions of the small eddies and the internal dynamics of the storm to determine whether these eddies can feed or sap momentum entering the upwelling vortex, resulting in this yet unexplained shrinkage.
NASA's Juno spacecraft is hurtling toward Jupiter now, due to reach the giant planet in July 2016. Point-blank examination by Juno's instruments will undoubtedly help unravel the mystery. Stay tuned for updates from both Hubble and Juno.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope.
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Flying Saucer Space Flight - Free Android Spaceship Game
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onlinegamefree.FlyingSaucerSpaceFlight Guide the flying saucer on its space flight through a hazardous mete...
By: Mobile Games Showcase
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Flying Saucer Space Flight - Free Android Spaceship Game - Video
Minecraft - Get your ass to Mars 011
Bongo and Blu attempt manned space flight. The skin i modified - http://www.planetminecraft.com/skin/red-hoodie-2741564/ If you #39;d like to help save animals consider donating to Best Friends...
By: bongotezz
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Jupiter #39;s shrinking spot
This video shows where Jupiter #39;s trademark spot can be found on its surface and showcases the comparison images that demonstrate how the spot has shrunk over the last nineteen years. More...
By: HubbleESA
Excerpt from:
May 15, 2014
Image Caption: Images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a span of 20 years, shows how the planet's trademark spot has decreased in size over the years. Credit: NASA/ESA
NASA
Jupiters trademark Great Red Spot a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured.
According to Amy Simon of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across. Astronomers have followed this downsizing since the 1930s.
Historic observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis. NASA Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across. In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across.
Beginning in 2012, amateur observations revealed a noticeable increase in the rate at which the spot is shrinking by 580 miles per year changing its shape from an oval to a circle.
In our new observations it is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm, said Simon. We hypothesized these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot.
Simons team plans to study the motions of the small eddies and the internal dynamics of the storm to determine whether these eddies can feed or sap momentum entering the upwelling vortex, resulting in this yet unexplained shrinkage.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. Goddard Space Flight Center 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.
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Hubble Shows Great Red Spot On Jupiter Is Smaller Than Ever Measured
Photo by: AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky
U.S. astronaut Michael Hopkins, a member of the next mission to the International Space Station, waves after a news conference in Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 24, 2013. The start of the new Soyuz mission was scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 26.
Image
Mike Hopkins' days as a human "guinea pig" aboard the International Space Station are over for now, but he hopes to wind up in space again someday.
After six months in space the NASA flight engineer is back home in Houston, reunited with his wife, Julie, and their two sons and working at the Johnson Space Center.
He's spent the last two months re-adapting to "life in a 1G environment" and undergoing tests by scientists who studied the astronauts while they were still in space. Scientists want to collect as much data as possible when the astronauts land to measure the effects of space travel, he said.
"We're guinea pigs while we're in orbit. We want to understand what happens to a human body in a microgravity environment," Hopkins said.
Hopkins, 45, also went through a debriefing about the space station with systems experts to discuss any problems and "ways we can make things easier for the next astronauts coming up."
In advance of this weekend's commencement activities, Hopkins talked with The News-Gazette about the future of space travel, the challenge of sleeping in orbit, phone reception on the space station and his favorite space food (and movie). He also reminisced about his harrowing first practice as an Illini football walk-on.
How long did it take you to adjust once you landed back home? Did anything surprise you?
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NASA, Russia, and Commercial Space Flight
Last week the House Appropriations Committee passed a spending package that would include increasing funding for private space flights to the International Space Station. The package is designed...
By: OutreachStrategists
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1000 FLARES -- 14 MAY 2014
THE SUN TODAY: 1000 FLARES -- 14 MAY 2014 (BEST VIEWED, FULL SCREEN!) LINK TO MY TALK AT NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on 6 December: http://mediastream.ndc.nasa.gov/public2/webvid/SCI/2013/SCI...
By: drkstrong
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Let`s Play StarBound Episode 1: First Things First
Its Starbound! a game of wich I over explain in the begening, so sit back and enjoy the space flight, oh and this is the Real 1st episode.
By: AccidicWaffle LPs
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The Hubble Space Telescope took this photo of Jupiter, using its Wide Field Camera 3, on April 21, 2014. NASA, ESA and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)
The diameter of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, at its widest, was measured at 41,000 kilometers (25,476 miles) in the late 1800s, Hubble officials said in a statement. Earth's diameter, by comparison, is 12,742 kilometers (7,918 miles). More recent observations, from the 1970s and the 1980s, via NASA's Voyager spacecraft, put the Great Red Spot's diameter at 23,335 kilometers (around 14,500 miles). The new Hubble observations were taken on April 21, using the space telescope's Wide Field Camera 3.
A close-up look at Jupiter's Great Red Spot as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA, ESA and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)
Much like the mystery surrounding the Great Red Spot's staying power, astronomers aren't sure what is causing the giant storm on Jupiter to shrink. The Great Red Spot is an anticyclone, spinning counter clockwise, in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter, with wind speeds of 430 to 630 kilometers per hour (270 to 425 miles per hour), NASA said. The origin of the storm's signature red color is also unknown.
Hubble observed the Great Red Spot of Jupiter in 1995, 2009 and 2014, and noticed a dramatic change in its diameter. NASA said that the diameter of the storm was 13,020 miles in 1995, 11,130 miles wide in 2009 and currently 10,250 miles wide. Previous studies estimate the rate of shrinkage at 580 miles per year. The astronomers also noted that the shape of the Great Red Spot has changed, going from an oval to a circle.
A size comparison of Jupiter's Great Red Spot based on Hubble observations from 1995, 2009 and 2014. NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)
Amy Simon, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said eddies, or circular currents of gas, may be changing the composition of the Great Red Spot, which could be diminishing in its power. "In our new observations it is apparent that very small eddies are feeding into the storm," Simon said in a statement. "We hypothesized that these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."
Excerpt from:
Hubble Space Telescope Catches Jupiter's Great Red Spot At Its Smallest Size Ever [PHOTO]
May 15, 2014
Image Caption: Close up of SS2 during a successful rocket-powered flight. Credit: Virgin Galactic
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online
As Virgin Galactic sent its WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane out for a test drive on Tuesday, the company found itself the subject of reports claiming that its commercial space flight operation would be delayed, as well as speculation that its passengers might not technically be traveling into space after all.
According to a Monday article from David Gilbert of the International Business Times, those media reports claim that the company would fail to meet Virgin Galactic owner Sir Richard Bransons January prediction that flights would begin by this summer. Instead, those flights would have to be pushed back until at least 2015 due to a defect found in the spacecrafts wings.
Branson, who first announced that he was investing in Virgin Galactic in 2004, initially predicted that commercial space flight would be a reality by 2007. Obviously, those predictions have not come to fruition, and now Gilbert said that it is highly unlikely that the vehicle will be ready for travel before the end of the summer.
However, President and CEO George T. Whitesides offered a different viewpoint, telling the IB Times that the company should reach space in just a few short months from now and that the companys current timetable has Richards flight taking place around the end of the year.
As for the other issue, Gizmodos Jamie Condliffe reports that members of the media had analyzed the small print in Virgin Galactics customer contract, and found that it promises to transport passengers to heights of at least 50 miles. According to Condliffe, that is some 12 miles short of the widely accepted boundary between the Earths atmosphere and outer space known as the Karman Line which lies at an altitude of 62 miles.
Virgin counters that it is using the 50 mile definition established by NASA first in the 1960s and most recently in 2005 to allow pilots of the rocket-powered X-15 aircraft as astronauts, the Gizmodo reporter said. However, the World Air Sports Federation, which serves as the governing body for astronautical world records, will only officially recognize an individual as an astronaut if they journey beyond the Karman Line, he added.
NASA and the US Air Force have a long tradition of celebrating everything above 50 miles (~80km) as spaceflight, and we look forward to joining those ranks soon as we push onward and upward, Whitesides said in a statement. We are still targeting 100km [62 miles]. As we have always noted, we will have to prove our numerical predictions via test flights as we continue through the latter phase of the test program.
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Does Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Flier Really Take You To Space?
The Hubble Space Telescope captures a picture of the raging Jovian storm at its smallest size ever.
Jupiter might be losing its most iconic feature, as these Hubble shots from 1995, 2009, and 2014 show. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is the planet's most defining feature -- and humanity has been watching it for a while. There is speculation that a mention of Jupiter's "permanent spot" from writings in the 1600s are a reference to the raging storm. And in the 1800s, observations of the spot put its measurement at about 25,476 miles wide -- which would be big enough to engulf three Earths.
"Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm that the spot is now just under 16,500 kilometres (about 10,252 miles) across, the smallest diameter we've ever measured," Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said in a statement.
Not only is the spot shrinking, but it's doing so faster than ever, NASA says. Yet the cause is largely unknown.
"In our new observations it is apparent that very small eddies are feeding into the storm," said Simon, who plans further studies of these eddies. "We hypothesized that these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics of the Great Red Spot."
Winds at the edge of the spot, which is a storm that's been raging for hundreds of years, spin in a counterclockwise direction and are estimated to reach 450 mph at the storm's edge. Considering that even at its current size, the spot could still swallow our planet whole, it's a good thing that Jupiter is over 350 million miles away.
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