NASA has announced the intended launch date for the STS129 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis to be November 16th, but this may slip a day depending on whether an Atlas V launches on the 14th or the 15th from Cape Canaveral  http://j.mp/3gU9us

Tumbling ARES 1-X 2nd stage after 1st stage booster separation was predicted in flight simulations prior to launch.  The expected tumble was caused by the upper stage's unusual centre of gravity due to the location of dummy fuel loads and the lack of 2nd stage J-2X engine to stabilise the vehicle following separation http://j.mp/49wBsG

Buckling of ARES-I X booster was due to a heavy sea landing at an angle.  Only one of the three parachutes deployed correctly, one failed completely and interferred with a second parachute reducing its effectiveness http://j.mp/25H9b7

NASA Post ARES I X Launch Press Briefing

A jubilant NASA launch team talk about the ARES I-X launch which took place earlier today. Despite a rogue freighter entering the launch safety exclusion zone, the delayed removal of a reluctant probe cover, red green red green weather conditions and launchpad lightning strikes yesterday, Ares I-X eventually made it to sub-orbit today with very little drama. The only unexpected observation so far appears to be the tumbling of the upper stage after separation.

ARES I X Development Rocket Test Flight

Launch video of the ARES I-X Rocket from Kennedy Space Center on 28th October 2009, the first launch of a new crew launch vehicle system which is intended to replace the Space Shuttle for transporting Astronauts to the International Space Station and facilitate rendezvous with exploration support modules and landers for missions beyond Earth's orbit.

However this maybe the first and last flight for the Ares 1 concept since the recent Augustine Commission report favors the development of a COTS solution for crew transport to Low Earth Orbit rather than one developed by NASA.

Beam us up Scotty

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic may establish a spaceport in Scotland for sub-orbital spaceflights. In anticipation of the first fully commmercial Space Tourism operation, Virgin Galactic is busy signing up wealthy daredevils for its first flights and plans to build a number of spaceports in strategic locations around the world. http://bit.ly/Vhx7e

ARES I X Rocket Post Flight Test Readiness Review Press Conference

NASA press briefing for ARES I-X which took place earlier today following the FTRR meeting with all the engineering teams involved. The flight test launch vehicle was cleared to launch from the Kennedy Space Center, which is currently scheduled for Tuesday 27th October 2009 at 8am EDT subject to acceptable weather conditions.

Black Hole found on Moon! fortunately not the all matter and light swallowing variety but an ominous looking pinhole in the lunar surface which maybe connected to a lava tube. This is of particular interest to lunar scientists since sink holes may provide a naturally protective habitat for future lunar explorers and easy access for material and resource mining http://j.mp/4Gxchi

Ares I-X Flight Test Mission Animated Simulation

Video animation of the ARES 1-X flight test which explains the planned sequence of events during launch. This will be the first flight of NASA's new crew launch vehicle concept which combines an adapted Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) motor for the Launch Vehicle with an Apollo Command Module like capsule on top to simulate the flight characteristics of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

For detailed information on the ARES I-X flight test this is the official NASA webpage which includes the press kit, fact sheet, mission specification, launch blog, image and video gallery http://j.mp/3pnp1H

Following its Flight Test Readiness Review Meeting today, the Ares I-X Rocket has been given the go ahead to launch on the 27th October. You can follow the launch preparation on twitter here http://j.mp/Y4B5o

Norm Augustine introductory remarks on the Human Spaceflight Review final report

10 minute overview of the Augustine Commission final report which commenced the press conference today in Washington DC. The main thrust of the report is to introduce missions which will visit/land on objects such as Asteroids, NEOs, Moons of other planets, visit Lagrange points and/or circumnavigate a planet such as Mars.

These new missions will be lower cost and achievable within a shorter timeframe than the current objective to land on the Moon and Mars, which requires the development of complex landers and larger heavy launch vehicles. The committee has not excluded the landing of humans on Mars ultimately, but believes that smaller steps are required in order to ensure continued public interest and funding of human spaceflight in the future.

PDF download page for the 157 page Augustine committee final report for future human spaceflight options, which has been submitted to the Whitehouse this week to assist the Obama administration in formulating a new manned spaceflight strategy for NASA http://j.mp/9UOmZ

One way ticket to Mars, just a concept for a future Science Fiction novel or Science Fact, more debate and discussion on the controversial Mars suicide mission http://bit.ly/MZtw8

Norm Augustines work is nearly done, the final report is currently being scrutinised by the Whitehouse and NASA staff and will be released on Thursday from the Human Spaceflight Review website to the public http://bit.ly/3zcZ3p

Geologists point to outer space as source of the Earth's mineral riches http://bit.ly/3H2aUA

The trouble with exploring Venus http://bit.ly/c7GAl

Skywatchers guide to the Geminids meteor shower which will be the focus of #Meteorwatch on 12th December 2009 http://j.mp/1Qo9Bm

Moonwatch and Meteorwatch Coming Soon to a Garden Shed Near You

From a well equipped Garden Shed in England, the Newbury Astronomical Society in collaboration with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 will be holding a twitter Moonwatch on the 26/27th October 2009 and a twitter Meteorwatch for the Germinids Meteor Shower on the 12th December 2009.

Sky Map Presentation from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer - IBEX Science Team

IBEX scientists present the first sky map of the Sun's Solar Wind interaction with the Milky Way Galaxy as the Solar System passes through the harmful material that exists between the stars

Mission Overview for the Interstellar Boundary Explorer - IBEX

IBEX is a low cost mission to investigate the interaction between the Suns protective Heliosphere and harmful Galactic Cosmic Rays

What rolled down the crater wall first, the boulder or the avalanche?  look to the right of the boulder and you will notice some lighter ground that suggests the boulder was their prior to the sand blasting http://j.mp/7wvIX

Other than our own, which planet or moon in our Solar system holds the most potential for supporting human life http://bit.ly/1BxuGX

30 foot wide Asteroid only just discovered this week will skim past Earth tonight at a distance closer than the Moon http://bit.ly/1VhDjE

LCROSS team have found the impact plume and imaging shows that it expanded to a diameter of 5 miles over the lunar surface http://bit.ly/3RoVnI

Professor of Geology Peter Schulz a co-investigator for LCROSS mission science data is elated that all the spacecraft's scientific instruments provided loads of interesting data during the precious 4 minutes between the 2 impacts of the Centaur upper stage and sherpherding spaecraft http://bit.ly/3YoJR1

KBO Quaoar unusually high density and moonlet Weywoot lack of circullar orbit is challenging current scientific understanding of what lurks beyond the orbit of Neptune http://bit.ly/4ooKAq

These two specks look familiar, a Martian Astronomers view of their nearest neighbour http://bit.ly/2aFzXU

NASA to present new IBEX science data on Thursday that promises a new view of our Galaxy http://bit.ly/2gZwMU

1st come 1st served for STS129 Space Shuttle Atlantis launch tweetup, NASA will be allocating tickets to the first 100 applicants and will add another 50 to a waiting list, registration commences from 12noon EDT on Fri 16th Oct http://j.mp/8gc1S

Doug Naylor writer and co-creator of Red Dwarf has been commissioned by Dave channel to write 6 new episodes http://bit.ly/RRvtM

Bono and The Edge from U2 chat with International Space Station crew during visit to Mission Control Houston http://j.mp/Y1Boo

David Bowie's Space Oddity 40 years on http://bit.ly/LQpoZ

if you are wondering what DJ 09 is, its The Official Red Dwarf Fan Club convention Dimension Jump XV being held this weekend http://bit.ly/2DwFdS

Leonard Nimoy is Concerned About the State of Science Fiction on TV http://bit.ly/2vYkJ0

Prepare for Impact! Watch LCROSS briefings, mission updates and launch video

Collection of videos gathered over the last few months for the Lunar Crater Observation Sensing and Satellite (LCROSS) mission including NASA briefings from the mission scientists and engineers, mission progress updates and launch of the LRO/LCROSS from Cape Canaveral on the 18th June 2009. Impact is currently scheduled for 11:31 UTC on Friday 9th Oct 2009.

LCROSS impact preview from The Planetary Society blog including critical mission milestones, links to webcasts and CGI animation charting its course from launch to impact http://bit.ly/X2b92

What happens when Black Holes collide? scientists would like to understand the interactive behaviour of coalescing singularities as they move slowly.......very slowly together http://bit.ly/4gNluf

Eve of silent thud! last 24 hours of LCROSS will involve a critical series of nail-biting flight team operations to ensure precise impact and separation of shepherding spacecraft from the spent Centaur rocket impactor. Everything has to come together without delay since there will only be 4 minutes worth of science data gathering between the two impacts http://bit.ly/4v5NgR

NASA scientists are watching our backs, probably no Apocalypse from Apophis

Chance of Asteroid Apophis the size of 2 1/2 football fields smashing into Earth in 2036 has been revised from 1 in 45,000 to 1 in 250,000, let's hope they're correct despite no dedicated government budget for NEO monitoring http://bit.ly/CXrni

Consequences of Viking not digging 5cm deeper in 1976, science behind lunar surface water discovery and will Messenger hiccup happen again during New Horizons flyby of Pluto http://j.mp/ZqEfy

Watch LCROSS impact live coverage on NASA TV or observe with Telescope in the Pacific region http://bit.ly/35No4

Citizen Science NASA Apps homepage for downloading LCROSS impact images contributed by astronomers http://bit.ly/8mkHD

Selected NASA mission highlights for STS-125 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission for maintenance and upgrade of the Hubble Space Telescope http://bit.ly/1vmAjY

Comet Formation Theory May Not Be Set in Stone (or Ice)

Comet Formation Theory May Not Be Set in Stone (or Ice) http://bit.ly/RFUdn

Moon crash will create six-mile plume of dust as Nasa searches for more signs of water beneath the surface http://bit.ly/njami

MESSENGER Gains Critical Gravity Assist for Mercury Orbital Observations

MESSENGER successfully flew by Mercury yesterday, gaining a critical gravity assist that will enable it to enter orbit about Mercury in 2011 and capturing images of five percent of the planet never before seen. With more than 90 percent of the planet's surface already imaged, MESSENGER's science team had drafted an ambitious observation campaign designed to tease out additional details from features uncovered during the first two flybys. But an unexpected signal loss prior to closest approach hampered those plans.
http://bit.ly/19kaz2

LCROSS Smash and Augustine summary report on Astrocast TV for October 2009

Greg talks about NASA’s LCROSS and it’s planned October 9th plung into Cabeus A crater on the Lunar surface. Greg also reports on the Augustine Committee summary Report on Human Spaceflight.

This episode of A Green Space - A Green Earth (GSGE in the menu tab) Bente reports on Earth observation from Space and how satellites measure Ocean currents and Gravity helping determine weather patterns, climate change and more.

The Astronomer’s Universe, Carolyn Collins Petersen takes a closer look at the first Stars in our Universe.

This month in Our Night Sky, Yvonne Garcia filling in for Tavi Greiner, and reports on the Great World Wide Star Count and IYA09’s Galilean Nights and how you can participate in both events in October.

New search for Dark Energy goes back in time

Baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) sounds like it could be technobabble from a Star Trek episode. BAO is real, but astronomers are searching for these particle fluctuations to do what seems like science fiction: look back in time to find clues about dark energy. The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey(BOSS), a part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III), took its "first light" of astronomical data last month, and will map the expansion history of the Universe.

Read the rest of New Search for Dark Energy Goes Back in Time

© nancy for Universe Today, 2009