STS-130 Launch (Image: NASA)

Hello all from the Hoth-like D.C. Metro area! We are all digging out here but space exploration marches on!

The launch of a Progress supply ship went off on time this past week and rendezvoused with the ISS on Thursday. Meanwhile, at the Kennedy Space Center, the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour was delayed from Sunday the 7th due to weather and was successfully launched this morning.  Check out last week’s GeekDad Space Report for more information on the mission and the crew of STS-130. Endeavour is scheduled to arrive at the ISS early on Wednesday morning. You can check out a video of the launch on YouTube.

Launches (Sources: Spaceflight Now World Launch Schedule, Wallops Flight Facility Daily Range Schedule)

Monday, February 8-
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 39A (Map View)
Mission: STS-130
Launch Time: 09:14 GMT (04:14 EST)
Notes: Delivery of the Tranquility Module to the ISS and the final scheduled night launch of the Space Shuttle program.

Wednesday, February 10 -
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V
Launch Pad: SLC-41 (Map View)
Payload: Solar Dynamics Observatory
Launch Window: 15:26-16:26 GMT (10:26-11:26 EST)
Notes: Launch of a new observer of our local star.

Friday, February 12 -
Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Launch Vehicle: Proton
Payload: Intelsat 16
Launch Time: 00:39 GMT
Notes: New communications satellite set to service Latin America.

Interesting Hubble Observations

In many ways, all of the Hubble observations are interesting, but here is a list of some of the standouts in the coming week. A more complete list can be found at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) This Week On HST Website.

The Physical Nature and Age of Lyman Alpha Galaxies

The Nuclear Structure of OH Megamaser Galaxies

The Disks, Accretion, and Outflows (DAO) of T Tau stars

This is a small list of the overall observations. You may also see some of these observations popping up in other weeks as many observation programs consist of several observations over time.

Asteroid Impact Captured

While we are talking about the Hubble Telescope, it appears the orbiting observatory may have captured the first image of an asteroid impact.  Wired Science has a report on the image which was captured by Hubble’s new Wide Field Camera 3.

Snowmaggedon From Space

Finally for this week, as I said at the start, I am among the many buried by a blizzard this past weekend. The MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite captured a great view of the blanket of snow. Send warm thoughts!

Have a great week everyone!

A Portion of the WISE First Light Image (Image: Berkeley SSL)

Greetings all and welcome to another edition of the GeekDad Space Report. No launches this week and none from last week to report on, so lets dive right into news in the world of space.

AAS Meeting

This past week, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) held a meeting in Washington, DC and the mission results reported have been very interesting! Here are a couple of the results that have been reported:

Hubble

More results are being reported from the new Hubble Deep Field, discussed previously on GeekDad. Some of the galaxies discovered in these results are only 600 to 800 million years after the Big Bang itself. More information can be found in an article on the discoveries on Space.com.

Kepler

As reported by Wired Science writer Alexis Madrigal, Kepler has already made several discoveries in the short time that it has been operating.  If you are not familiar with the Kepler mission, check out the Wired Science article by Clara Moskowitz about Kepler’s mission.

Interesting Hubble Observations

Before starting the usual list of observations for the week for Hubble, I want to congratulate Astronaut John Grunsfeld. Space News is reporting that Grunsfeld is leaving NASA to assume the role of Deputy Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. I have had the opportunity of meeting John personally back in my Hubble days and can say he is a great pick and will prove to be extremely valuable to STScI.

Back to the listing of Hubble Observations. Here is a list of some of the standouts in the coming week. A more complete list can be found at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) This Week On HST Website.

Probing the early universe with GRBs

Resolving the Smallest Galaxies with ACS

The population of compact planetary nebulae in the Galactic Disk

This is a small list of the overall observations. You may also see some of these observations popping up in other weeks as many observation programs consist of several observations over time.

Elsewhere In The Solar System

Mars

The BBC is reporting that a group of researchers from the Imperial and University Colleges London have found geographic features on Mars which look like drainage channels from large lake beds. The team utilized data fro the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for their study.

The Sun

The Solar-Heliospherical Observatory (SOHO) captured images of a comet being consumed by the sun, as reported by the Daily Mail.

WISE Mission

A fantastic view of space has been captured by the WISE mission as one of its first light observations Wired Science reporter Lisa Grossman is reporting. Additionally, Space News is reporting that the image was captured just after the cover to the telescope was ejected and was part of an effort to calibrate the instruments aboard the observatory.

Manned Spaceflight

As reported by the Associated Press, this past week the Space Shuttle Endeavour moved to Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour is being prepared for a February 7 launch to the International Space Station (ISS).

Have a great week everyone!

Dragon Spacecraft (Image © SpaceX, used with permission)

There are only five Space Shuttle flights left on NASA’s schedule. Since 1982, astronauts have traveled into low-Earth orbit aboard the workhorse of NASA’s space program. With the exception of the Hubble repair mission earlier this year, the remaining flights have all been focused on adding to and upgrading the International Space Station. However, as it stands, after 2010 the United States will need to look for a new way to push humans up Earth’s gravity well.

NASA’s Constellation program is hard at work with development of the Orion. Designed to serve as a vehicle for the trip to the ISS and to lunar orbit, Orion and the entire Constellation is currently under review by the Obama administration. In October of this year, the Augustine commission delivered a set of options to the President that will help shape the future of American human space flight. By the commission’s estimate, Orion will at best be ready in 2016, leaving the US with a six year gap in operations.

Six years is a long drought. So what alternate options are available?

In addition to the shuttle, the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft have been regular visitors to the ISS. And in the coming US space flight gap, NASA is looking at $51 million USD per person for any trips on Soyuz. In the past two years, the Europeans and the Japanese have developed remotely-operated transfer vehicles. However, the new ships are currently only cargo-rated.

In December of 2008, NASA awarded two American companies contracts to transfer supplies to the ISS, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. Of the two, SpaceX is pushing hard to become the first private company to develop a human-rated spacecraft that can successfully deliver astronauts to the space station.

SpaceX plans to put the Dragon spacecraft through its paces in 2010. In addition to a cargo /human rated ship, the new rocket company will also be simultaneously validating the Falcon 9 medium-lift rocket. Sporting nine of SpaceX’s homegrown Merlin engines, the same that powered the Falcon 1, the F9 is currently prepping for a launch early next year from a refurbished Launch Complex 40 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

I feel very lucky to be alive during a time of exciting developments in spaceflight and the new century has been a boon for private space enterprises:

• Just a few years ago, Scaled Composites had a huge success with Space Ship One which became the first privately manned spacecraft
• SpaceX had the first private rocket to orbit the Earth with the Falcon 1
• Bigelow Aerospace’s Genesis I became the first expandable space habitat technology on orbit
• SpaceX’s Dragon is setup to be the first privately built ship to dock with the space station
• Not to mention a number of other private ventures currently under development

At the rate the industry is moving, it appears that one day soon, the term astronaut may not just be associated with governmental organizations.