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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: December 11, 2013 11:23:29 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News Dec. 11, 2013 and JSC Today
________________________________________Wednesday, December 11, 2013JSC TODAY CATEGORIES1. Headlines- Windows XP Users: Immediate Action Required!- Latest International Space Station Research- Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 Release2. Organizations/Social- Healthy Approaches to Holiday Stress3. Community- Blood Drive: Dec. 18 and 19Yellowknife Bay Formation on MarsHeadlines1. Windows XP Users: Immediate Action Required!Users with computers running Windows XP Operating System, please be aware that effective April 2014, Windows XP will not be supported by Microsoft.Contact your organization's Information Technology (IT) point of contact immediately to discuss a hardware refresh or upgrade to a Windows 7 system.If you have an ACES computer, your IT point of contact must submit a hardware refresh order no later than Dec. 13.Non-ACES computers should be upgraded to Windows 7 before April 2014.If you have a requirement to keep your Windows XP system, then you must contact the IT Security Office immediately.If no action is taken, then your system is subject to REMOVAL from the NASA network.For more information, contact your organization's IT point of contact.JSC-IRD-Outreach x30939[top]2. Latest International Space Station ResearchInternational Space Station Chief Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., has hand-picked her top 10 results from space station thus far, and you can learn about them in this video.Liz Warren x35548[top]3. Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 ReleaseThe JSC Chief Knowledge Officer is pleased to announce the seventh release of SKC. This release includes:o WebPCASS - millions of records from the production and maintenance of Space Shuttle Program (SSP) partso Space Meteorology Group mission binders, including STS-51L weather mapso USA Materials and Processes PRT Bulletin Board (BBS) fileso Shuttle Flight Data Handbookso The U.S. Human Spaceflight Continuity and Stability Case Studyo Additional scanned documentsTo date, 2.57TB of information, with 5.8 million documents of SSP knowledge, has been captured. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments and thoughts.Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx[top]Organizations/Social1. Healthy Approaches to Holiday StressThe holidays are fast approaching, and with that comes the stress of time management, family challenges, finances and spending. Fill your toolbox early with strategies and tips for having positive, memorable holidays. Takis Bogdanos with the JSC Employee Assistance Program will present "Healthy Approaches to Holiday Stress" today, Dec. 11, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium.Event Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Event Start Time:12:00 PM Event End Time:1:00 PMEvent Location: Building 30 AuditoriumAdd to CalendarLorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130[top]Community1. Blood Drive: Dec. 18 and 19Give the "Gift of Life" this holiday season by donating at our final blood drive for 2013 on Dec. 18 and 19. Your blood donation can help as many as three patients.You can donate at one of the following locations:o Teague Auditorium Lobby - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.o Building 11 Starport Café donor coach - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.o Gilruth Center donor coach - Noon to 4 p.m. (Thursday only)Criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors.Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm[top]JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles.Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.NASA and Human Spaceflight NewsWednesday – December 11, 2013International Space Station:More than 400 local TV stations, reaching about 13.5 million people, broadcast portions of the ISS crew's Thanksgiving messages last week: http://go.nasa.gov/19hkDh6HEADLINES AND LEADSCrew that joined first pieces of ISS recalls moment 15 years laterJames Dean – Florida TodayBefore launching separately, the International Space Station's first two pieces were never fitted together on the ground.Mars One is one step closer to its dream of colonizing Mars
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesMars One is a plucky not-for-profit organization that wants to turn the colonization of Mars into a worldwide reality TV show -- and it appears to be making headway.Mars One plans unmanned mission for 2018William Harwood – CBS NewsA privately funded unmanned Mars mission will launch in 2018, officials with the non-profit Mars One foundation announced Tuesday. The mission will include an orbiting communications relay station, a lander equipped with a robotic arm, water generating gear, experimental thin-film solar panels and student experiments.Mars colony project launches plans for 2018 test missionMars One, a nonprofit, privately funded group aiming to land human settlers on the red planet in 2025, has contracted with two aerospace companies to study ideas for a preliminary test mission.Pete Spotts – The Christian Science MonitorA group that aims to land the first human settlers on Mars in 2025 has contracted with two well-known aerospace companies to study concepts for an unmanned orbiter and lander that would travel to Mars in 2018.Prototype Morpheus lander completes test flight at KSCJames Dean – Florida TodayBravo, Morpheus!Sixteen months after making national news with a test flight that crashed and burned at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Morpheus lander completed a successful do-over Tuesday.Robonaut 2, NASA's Humanoid Space Robot, Will Get Legs SoonMiriam Kramer – SPACE.comNASA's humanoid robot astronaut is getting its space legs.The space agency is building lower limbs for Robonaut 2, a robot designed to eventually help astronauts by taking over some of their duties on the International Space Station. R2, as NASA calls it, is currently legless with its torso attached to a support post in the orbiting outpost. A new NASA video of Robonaut 2 with legs shows the strange ways the robotic limbs can move.Comet ISON appears to be 'dead'Traci Watson – USA TodayLike so many other objects of public fascination, comet ISON has flamed out.For months, this bright comet from the wilderness at the edge of the solar system had scientists and sky watchers on edge. Would it survive its daredevil trip close to the sun's surface, or would it perish in a blaze of glory? Now scientists have given the official answer: the latter.Motion of Earth and moon recorded by Juno spacecraftStephen Clark – Spaceflight NowNASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft recorded a video of the Earth-moon system during a high-speed flyby in October, revealing an unprecedented view of the two worlds locked in a cosmic dance against the dark abyss of space.__________COMPLETE STORIESCrew that joined first pieces of ISS recalls moment 15 years laterJames Dean – Florida TodayBefore launching separately, the International Space Station's first two pieces were never fitted together on the ground.The first attempt to connect the Russian and American modules came 250 miles above Earth, 15 years ago this month.It worked, as did most of the assembly effort that spanned more than a decade and produced an orbiting research complex longer than an American football field."I would say the International Space Station is one of our greatest engineering achievements in the last several decades," said Nancy Currie, the NASA astronaut who grappled Russia's Zarya module with shuttle Endeavour's robotic arm for connection to the U.S. Unity node on Dec. 6, 1998.On Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Currie joined crewmates Jerry Ross and Bob Cabana, the director of Kennedy Space Center, in reminiscing about their mission, which gave birth to the station.The international partnership now considered one of the station's greatest legacies was just starting to be forged."We were breaking down a lot of barriers, or at least learning how to work together," said Ross, who performed three of his nine career spacewalks during the mission labeled STS-88.He remembered waiting 45 minutes during one spacewalk for permission to fasten some loose trays he found on top of the Russian module."During that time I had already resecured them," he laughed. "But it was neat. I was up at the top, about 80 feet above the payload bay of the shuttle and looking down at night, and the shuttle looked pretty far away at that point."On Dec. 10, 15 years ago Tuesday, Cabana invited cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev to float through the station hatches side by side in a show of international partnership, as the six-person shuttle crew entered the station for the first time."It was wonderful to be there from the start, literally turn on the lights, but it's really been a pleasure to see how it's evolved over the years," said Currie.Cabana, Currie and Ross, who flew 15 shuttle flights between them, believe the station will serve in the coming years as an important platform for testing technologies needed for long duration spaceflight to distant destinations.Cabana recently watched a video produced after the mission that showed Zarya and Unity joined, then an animation of all the additions scheduled to follow."We did that," he said. "It really happened. We made what was a computer animation reality."Mars One is one step closer to its dream of colonizing Mars
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesMars One is a plucky not-for-profit organization that wants to turn the colonization of Mars into a worldwide reality TV show -- and it appears to be making headway.On Tuesday, Mars One announced it had contracted Lockheed Martin to develop a mission concept study for a Mars lander to be launched in 2018.Lockheed Martin is the company that tested and operated the 2007 Phoenix Mars lander for NASA."We're already working on the mission concept study, starting with the proven design of Phoenix," said Ed Sedivy, Lockheed Martin's civil space chief engineer in a statement. "Having managed the Phoenix spacecraft development, I can tell you, landing on Mars is challenging and a thrill."Mars One made headlines this spring when it began accepting applications for the first round of Mars colonizers. Anyone on the planet over the age of 18 was invited to apply, regardless of whether they had previous experience in engineering, medicine, planetary science or really anything.Applicants were asked to submit videos in which they explained why they wanted to go to Mars and how they felt about never returning to Earth. (Mars One does not envision sending anyone home.)They were also asked to describe their sense of humor.By the time Mars One stopped accepting applications in September, 202,000 people had expressed interest in being among the first humans to step foot on the Red Planet.Eventually, Mars One will whittle down those applicants to about 40. Those selected will train in groups for seven years. And, if everything goes according to plan, at that time a global audience will vote on which group will go to Mars.In the meantime, Mars One needs to prove that a Mars colony is technologically possible, and that's where the proposed lander comes in.The unmanned lander that Mars One hopes to launch in 2018 -- the first private unmanned mission to Mars -- will be equipped with a suite of tools to prove that the Red Planet would be habitable for humans. Specifically, it will demonstrate how humans might extract water from the Martian soil."The demonstration of water production on Mars is crucial for manned missions," said Mars One co-founder Arno Wielders in a statement.And because of the whole reality-TV angle, the lander also will be equipped with a video camera for continuous documentation.Mars One announced it was working with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. to create a demonstration satellite to relay a live video feed from Mars back to Earth.If you are wondering how Mars One plans to pay for its ambitious plans, you are not alone. In a news release, the nonprofit said it would look for funding in exclusive partnerships and sponsorships, as well as an Indiegogo campaign.Mars One plans unmanned mission for 2018William Harwood – CBS NewsA privately funded unmanned Mars mission will launch in 2018, officials with the non-profit Mars One foundation announced Tuesday. The mission will include an orbiting communications relay station, a lander equipped with a robotic arm, water generating gear, experimental thin-film solar panels and student experiments.Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, Mars One founder and CEO, told reporters the foundation has signed contracts with two major aerospace firms, Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology, to develop mission concept studies, a first step toward eventual construction and launch.The lander will be based on the design of the 2007 Phoenix Mars lander that Lockheed Martin developed for NASA. The communications satellite -- the first such "geostationary" comsat in orbit around the red planet -- will incorporate technologies developed by Surrey and used in a variety of operational spacecraft.Lansdorp said the Lockheed Martin contract was valued at slightly more than $250,000 while the Surrey agreement came to about $60,000.Development of the actual spacecraft and the rocket, or rockets, needed to launch them will be funded primarily by sponsors and corporate donors, Lansdorp said, along with donations from the public through a crowd-funding campaign.He would not disclose internal projections for the mission's eventual cost other than to tell reporters he expected it to be less than NASA's next Mars lander, the $425 million Phoenix-derived Insight mission scheduled for launch in 2016.The unmanned Mars One technology demonstration mission is a precursor to the foundation's seemingly quixotic long-range goal of launching humans to Mars starting in 2025, assuming funding and technology hurdles can be overcome. The foundation envisions launching follow-on crews of four astronauts every two years to establish a permanent outpost on the red planet.When Mars One started taking applications for future Mars travel last spring. Lansdorp said the foundation had received more than 200,000 applications from would-be astronauts and that those selected for the next round of evaluations would be announced before the end of the year.The Mars One mission concept calls for one-way flights by volunteers who would spend the rest of their lives on the red planet.Previous estimates for the cost of a manned mission to Mars start at $100 billion. But those estimates include landers and rockets to return visiting crews to Earth, rather than a lifetime Mars colony.In the meantime, Lansdorp said, the focus is on getting the 2018 mission off the ground.Ed Sedivy, chief engineer of civil space operations at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said company engineers and designers with experience building NASA's Mars orbiters and landers already were working on the Mars One 2018 mission concept study.The Mars One project "is the first privately funded planetary exploration mission," he said. "If you think about that, that is really, really cool. ... This is the dawn of a new era of space exploration. Private funding that supports the exploration of other planets is a concept that is really exciting."Martin Sweeting, Surrey Satellite Technology chairman, said his company has been "interested in driving the cost of exploration down and increasing the tempo of exploration and widening participation for many years.""We've been doing work in the past on projects to look at supporting sustained human habitation on the moon, for example," he said. "Mars One is really a logical step for us, and something we find exciting in trying to develop."While the 2018 mission architecture is still being assessed, Sedivy said the least expensive option would be to launch the Mars One lander and orbiter on a single rocket. But that will depend on how much separation is required between the orbiter's arrival and the lander's descent to the surface.The Mars One communications satellite will be the first martian spacecraft operating in a geostationary orbit that will permit continuous observations of the landing site."It will function as a data relay from the surface of Mars to Earth," Lansdorp said. "It will be in a fixed location over the Mars lander, which will allow a live video feed from the surface of Mars to Earth. We expect this will bring [Mars] a lot closer to everybody on Earth. Anyone here on Earth can log into our website and see what's it like on Mars."While the comsat will be "nice to have," providing a continuous link between the lander and the public on Earth, "it's crucial for our manned missions because then we really need to have that 24/7 connection between Earth and Mars," Lansdorp said.The Phoenix-derivative lander will be equipped with a robot arm and camera that will provide a live video feed from the surface, relayed back to Earth by the Mars One communications satellite."It will carry a weather experiment and it will demonstrate the production of liquid water on the surface of Mars," Lansdorp said. "And it will carry a power experiment that will deploy a thin film solar panel on the surface of Mars. We make use of thin film solar panels for our human mission, and this will be the demonstrator of that."A key element of the 2018 mission is participation by students around the world. Mars One plans an international contest to select an experiment designed by university students that will be launched aboard the lander.The foundation also plans to organize STEM-type challenges to involve younger students in a bid to "inspire kids into Mars exploration," Lansdorp said."This is very important for Mars One, because with these challenges on our unmanned missions we can inspire young students even before we send humans to Mars, which will, of course, be an even bigger source of inspiration on Earth."Mars colony project launches plans for 2018 test missionMars One, a nonprofit, privately funded group aiming to land human settlers on the red planet in 2025, has contracted with two aerospace companies to study ideas for a preliminary test mission.Pete Spotts – The Christian Science MonitorA group that aims to land the first human settlers on Mars in 2025 has contracted with two well-known aerospace companies to study concepts for an unmanned orbiter and lander that would travel to Mars in 2018.If all goes well, the effort by Mars One, a nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands, would represent the first privately funded mission to the red planet.The lander would carry a pair of experiments designed to test technologies vital to the success of any settlement – an ability to extract water from the Martian soil, and light-weight, reliable, thin-film solar panels to provide energy. The orbiter would relay data from the lander to Earth and back, including live video feeds from the Martian surface."These missions are the first step in Mars One's overall plan of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars," said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mars One, at a briefing Tuesday in Washington.Under a $256,000 contract, Lockheed Martin Corporation will develop concepts for the lander, derived from the one it built for NASA's successful Phoenix Mars mission, launched in 2007. Another contract, worth some $82,700, went to Britain's Surrey Satellites Technology, which designs and builds small communications satellites.The companies aim to complete their studies by mid-2014. In the meantime, Mars One plans to issue calls early next year for proposals for the two major experiments, as well as for secondary experiments it plans to solicit from universities and high schools through design competitions.The contracts do not commit either aerospace company to manufacturing equipment for the mission, although if Mars One is successful in raising the money it needs, the expectation is that the two firms would get the nod to do so. Mr. Lansdorp said Mars One has a ballpark figure in mind for a mission cost, but he was unwilling to reveal it.As a rough point of comparison, however, NASA's Phoenix Lander mission, which operated for a little more than five months on Mars in 2008, cost $386 million. That mission didn't include an orbiter.Phoenix is a very good match given the expected payload requirements, said Ed Sedivy, chief engineer for Lockheed Martin's civilian space projects, who served as spacecraft manager for the Phoenix Mars mission."It's a proven delivery system. The technology has been demonstrated. The team is in place. There are very few impediments that one would see to continuing" beyond the concept study to building the lander, he said.Still, the companies must look at the type of rocket they'll need – or rockets if that is required to make sure the orbiter is in place before the lander arrives – and other aspects of the overall mission design.Binding contracts to move forward come once the concept study is completed to everyone's satisfaction.Mars One is turning to crowd funding through indiegoo.com as a way to engage people interested in supporting the mission. The group's goal is to raise $400,000 over the next 47 days through such donations.But the bulk of the money for the mission would come from corporate partners. Lansdorp said. Mars One is in "very serious discussion" with several major companies interested in becoming partners in the university-experiment competition.Other companies appear to be interested in the mission for "very exciting, very exclusive PR events," he said. "We believe we are in very good shape" to make the mission happen.Mars One was founded in 2011. In April it solicited applications for crew members. At the end of August, when the window to apply closed, the group had received more than 200,000 applications. Mars One plans to announce the applicants who survived the initial cut by the end of this year.The group envisions sending four people initially, with four fresh faces arriving every two years. As launch capabilities improve, the hope is to send larger crews, Lansdorp said.Prototype Morpheus lander completes test flight at KSCJames Dean – Florida TodayBravo, Morpheus!Sixteen months after making national news with a test flight that crashed and burned at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Morpheus lander completed a successful do-over Tuesday.Flying for the first time without a tether, the new-and-improved "Bravo" version of the prototype lander soared 50 feet up, hovered and then touched down about 20 feet from where it lifted off near the former shuttle runway, within six inches of its target.There were no pyrotechnics other than a few easily extinguished grass fires."It feels fantastic," said Jon Olansen, the project manager from Johnson Space Center, said of the nearly one-minute flight. "We knew this vehicle could fly very well."In August 2012, the original Morpheus lost navigation data a split-second after liftoff on its first free flight, causing it to keel over and explode on impact near the same site.Video of the crash went viral, but NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden later cited the mishap as a positive example of the agency taking risks and pushing boundaries, as perhaps it should more often.The $750,000 Bravo replacement vehicle looks essentially the same as the first one, with four spindly legs and four large silver balls for propellant tanks, but features about 70 upgrades to improve components and redundancy in some systems.The improvements didn't break the bank, however, because the project is aiming for rapid technology development at relatively low cost, and thus accepts more risk."There are still many different things that could lead to loss of the vehicle," Olansen said.Project Morpheus has spent about $10 million over more than three years, not including team salaries, Olansen said.Its goal is to test a system powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane, which are known as "green" propellants, and equipped with autonomous landing sensors.A series of test flights, continuing next week, will attempt to gradually increase the lander's altitude and lateral range, to a peak of 820 feet up and about 1,600 feet over.The landing sensors are expected to enter the picture in February or March, challenging Morpheus to find a safe landing site in a boulder- and crater-strewn hazard field resembling a lunar landscape.The sensors should allow Morpheus to change landing targets in mid-flight if they see an obstacle at the first location.KSC built the nearly 1,000-square-foot hazard field, and designed a new mobile launch pad with a flame trench that was used on Tuesday and limited noise vibrations on the lander as it lifted off."Today was a great, nominal test," said Greg Gaddis, the project's site manager at KSC.Robonaut 2, NASA's Humanoid Space Robot, Will Get Legs SoonMiriam Kramer – SPACE.comNASA's humanoid robot astronaut is getting its space legs.The space agency is building lower limbs for Robonaut 2, a robot designed to eventually help astronauts by taking over some of their duties on the International Space Station. R2, as NASA calls it, is currently legless with its torso attached to a support post in the orbiting outpost. A new NASA video of Robonaut 2 with legs shows the strange ways the robotic limbs can move.Currently, astronauts on the space station perform experiments and test with an R2 unit that is locked in a stationary position inside the orbiting laboratory. Once Robonaut 2 receives its legs in 2014, the robot is expected to gain the ability to move about the station. Ultimately, engineers hope R2 will be able to perform repetitive tasks inside and outside of the station, freeing up the astronauts for more complicated work."NASA has explored with robots for more than a decade, from the stalwart rovers on Mars to R2 on the station," Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology, said in a statement on Dec. 9. "Our investment in robotic technology development is helping us to bolster productivity by applying robotics technology and devices to fortify and enhance individual human capabilities, performance and safety in space."The legs themselves aren't anything like human limbs. Once attached to Robonaut 2's 3 foot 4 inch torso (1.01 meters), the robot's leg span will be 9 feet (2.7 meters).Robonaut 2's robotic legs have seven joints and a special tool called an "end effector" takes the place of feet. The tool will let R2 use sockets and handrails to move about in and outside the station, but R2's upper body requires upgrades before it can venture outside into the vacuum of space, according to NASA officials."Technologies developed for Robonaut have led to new robotic devices for future spaceflight that also have direct applications here on Earth," NASA officials said in a news release. "For example, NASA is developing a robotic exoskeleton that could help astronauts stay healthier in space and also aid people with physical disabilities."NASA is planning to debut R5, its next robot in the Robonaut series, later in December. R5 will compete in DARPA's Robotics Challenge where robots will be tested in dangerous, human created environments, NASA officials said.The $2.5 million Robonaut 2 arrived on the space station in 2011 during the last flight of the space shuttle Discovery. NASA also has a twin robot used for Robonaut testing on Earth.Comet ISON appears to be 'dead'Traci Watson – USA TodayLike so many other objects of public fascination, comet ISON has flamed out.For months, this bright comet from the wilderness at the edge of the solar system had scientists and sky watchers on edge. Would it survive its daredevil trip close to the sun's surface, or would it perish in a blaze of glory? Now scientists have given the official answer: the latter."At this point it seems like there's nothing left," said comet expert Karl Battams of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, speaking Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. "So sorry, everyone, but comet ISON is dead. Its memory lives on."Battams and other scientists at the meeting pointed to a cascade of devastating evidence. Amateur astronomers using powerful equipment to follow ISON's path have been unable to see a "nucleus," the icy heart that defines a comet. One keen-eyed NASA spacecraft that looks at the sun was unable to see the comet after its closest solar approach. Another saw only a dusty streak, rather than a full-scale comet, after ISON skimmed the solar surface.Scientists had long known that ISON might be snuffed out by the sun's intense heat and gravitational pull, but many cherished hopes that it would pull through and perhaps even become visible to the naked eye in the weeks after its solar approach on Thanksgiving Day.Comet specialist Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory maintained hope even last week that the comet had emerged intact – if not unscathed – from its rendezvous with the sun. But the amateur astronomers' findings were "the death knell," Lisse said. "There's definitely no nucleus there."For Battams, "there was no definitive moment" when he knew the comet was dead. "It was kind of a process of heartbreak, really, as we realized the comet was not looking good." A few hours before ISON's nearest approach to the sun, it showed signs of imminent demise, and when the remains of the comet moved away from the sun, the signs were even grimmer, Battams said.The vast majority of such "sungrazer" comets come apart when they're close to the sun, so ISON's fate is not surprising, the scientists said. New measurements by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars show the comet was smaller than originally estimated, making it harder for ISON to endure conditions close to the sun.So there will be no blaze in the sky for ordinary people to see, and scientists have canceled their plans to point instruments at the place ISON should've been."Part of me says we have to let go," Lisse said.Motion of Earth and moon recorded by Juno spacecraftStephen Clark – Spaceflight NowNASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft recorded a video of the Earth-moon system during a high-speed flyby in October, revealing an unprecedented view of the two worlds locked in a cosmic dance against the dark abyss of space.The images were captured by a low-resolution camera mounted at the end of one of Juno's three solar array wings."If Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise said, 'Take us home, Scotty,' this is what the crew would see," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "In the movie, you ride aboard Juno as it approaches Earth and then soars off into the blackness of space. No previous view of our world has ever captured the heavenly waltz of Earth and moon."A camera named the advanced stellar compass, built by the Danish Technical University near Copenhagen, collected still imagery during the flyby and engineers on the ground stitched the pictures into a movie.The advanced stellar compass is part of Juno's magnetometer instrument, and its four cameras track faint stars to determine Juno's position in space.Scientists said the cameras started taking pictures of Earth when it was about 600,000 miles away and continued snapping photos until its closest point to the planet."Everything we humans are and everything we do is represented in that view," said John Jørgensen, the star tracker's designed from DTU, in a NASA press release.Juno used the Oct. 9 flyby to gain speed on its way to Jupiter, where it will arrive July 4, 2016.The spacecraft slipped into a fault-protection condition known as safe mode twice during the flyby sequence, but officials said the safe modes were triggered by understood minor glitches.The $1.1 billion mission will examine the giant planet's crushing atmosphere, powerful magnetic field and deep interior.Scientists say discoveries at Jupiter could yield insights into the planet's origin and the formation of the solar system. Clues hidden inside Jupiter, likely the oldest of the solar system's planets, could lead researchers to understand how the solar system formed and evolved 4.5 billion years ago.Juno will orbit Jupiter 33 times, looping over the gas giant's poles and returning the closest images of the planet's ceaseless auroras.ENDMore detailed space news can be found at:
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