all about space - tour of the universe 2014 (gnv64)

8/10/2019 All About Space - Tour of the Universe 2014 (Gnv64)

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Welcome

tothe

p ce

T U

O TH

UN V RS

Once upon a time a man named

Neil

Armstrong stepped

onto the surface of the Moon claiming it to

be

One small step

for man

one gi nt leap

for mankind.

Join

us as

we take you

further than ever imagined across our Solar System and into

deep space Explore the ilky Way from

Earth s

natural

satellite the

Moon

to learning all about the star at the centre

of

our Solar System Further your understanding

of

how the

human

race is

exploring the universe

as we

search

for life

and prepare to become tourists in space Learn about the

science of space with the formation of the planets and the

Space Junk Crisis Finally you

will

head into the deepest

depths

of

the universe touring alien worlds and uncovering

the power ofsupernovas In this book you will also discover

some ofthe wonders of the universe and what mysteries

they hold Jump on board and get ready to tour the universe


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space

T U

OF THE

UN V RS

IrnoIIno *'IisI1inIlt


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rom

exploring our Solar

System

to th mysteries of deep

space

find out what makes our univ rs so

amazing

s

of

th

t


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Discover

the

wonders of

the Univers

chilling discovery c me to light in the Nineties

en astronomers realised the universe s expansion was

erating instead of slowing, s they d predicted.

little is currently known about the mystery. the

tenn

k mattereffectively exists d a placeholder - a means

an

unf thom ble problem in b rely more

way.

Thanks

to

more recent discoveries

we

at least

have rough idea of where dark m tter resides

inding rk

rk matterm pping

The Hubble

Telf: S opl:

helpl: d create

a 3D mapthat provides

the

fir5t dire


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Discover

the

wonders of the Universe

Who s

w Eric Schmidt

Schmidl

is lhe

exerullve

ch.airma

ofGoogle.

He

Is

i1lso

a celebrilted

50ftwilre

enginee

, larry Page

Piige

is

the CEO

o

Google and also

its

co-founder.

He sped.alises in

computer sdence

James Camer

Director

01

and Tenni 1aror 2

C.arTM fOfl

4 Iso hel

u i l t h e ~

Ch.allencet

Peter Diaman

~ n d l i s

~ l l i s h t

..,

e x p e r t i n ~

sp e

vehides.

mmers

10

harvesl

them.

Up

10 five

Ofbuallelescopes are

eXpecled

(()

be launched

by

2014

10

begin

lhe

survey.

Indeed. lhe exIStence of A.nelary Resourc:rs is fasemaung

because

il

is lt l

il

fOf

lhe long haul. creatinga oomplel:e1y

conceIVable

roodmap

10 assel

extr.JCIlOfl.

If

successtullhe

endeavour could prove very profilable Iof the company wnh

suxlJes IndICating lhal mosl a5 fOOs are nch

in

mlllll'rais

such as iron. niclceland

Ulanium

which are in

resr.riellve

SUPIXY on Earth.

II

these eiemenlS could be eXtracted and

iAoc ed il

would

proYl

invaWble for fulure

IndUSIry.

Whal

ts

mosIfasanatll18-

though. is

lhalln

ils

mlSSlOfl (()

mine

asll fOids.

A.net.uy

Resourc:rs

could


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irin

l s rs

on

Mars

The Science Laboratory mission to land the

uriosity rover onMars blasted off on 26

November 2011 and is a simply phenomenal

project Once has parachuted down to

Mars,

the state of the art vehicle has only one

purpose - to h el p a s se ss the habitdbilily of

the Red lanet It will do this by performing

various

tests in its onboard laboratory.

including large-scale chemical analysis of

its

rocky

surface. using a ChemCarn

laser

to 1apoUlise pieces the terrain for more

effective study

ook

a

ti htto

the ISS

Sp.JCeXs

Dragon sp3Cl Craft

is

exciting for

all the

fight

reason

As

discussed earlier (see pilge

12)

it

has

already

begun

cargo

missions 10

the

International

Space Station. and in the

next

fl W YCdrs it is set to begin

manned expeditions to sp; ce,

the first private sp


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Saturn s

moon

Tit


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Discover the

wonders

of the Universe

iscovering new

arths

Scientists

are

busy

n

their search

for

new, Earth-like

planets outside

of

our

Solar

System and new advances

in technology may help us

find

one soon

Projects like the James Webb

Telescope will bring Earth

sized exoplanets into view

Planet

hunting

is

a new

and

exciting

area

astronomy barely

two decades

old

that

thanks to missions such

as

NASA:s Kepler telescope. is revealing

more

,lnd more data

about intriguing

new worlds

outside

of

OUT

Solar

System

known

as

extrasolar planets

or exoplanets. Only in the

Mst

years

has

suffident technology

been

available to a llo w u s to categorically

prove the existence of these planets.

While we re still some way of seeing

detailed imagery of direct exoplanet

observations, projects like

NASA s

James Webb Space Telescope and

the European Extremely

Large

Telescope

I-.:-ELT) will

bring Earth-size

exoplanets into view and { \I n study

the composinon

of

their atmospheres.

The

number of bizarre

and

familiar

new worlds just waiting to

be

discovered is staggering. estimates

prove to be accurate. In our Milky

Way

alone there could be

hundreds

of billions of planets,

and so

far

we've found justa lew thousand. The

ullJmate goal for planet hunting

is

to

filld an Earth-analogous planet that

could

help ascertain whether hIe could

potentially grab a foothold outside o

our SolarSystem.

The key to discovering

an

Earth

like plalll't is to find those that are

within the habitable or 'Goldtlocks'

zone of a star, the area within which

the conditions are thought to

be

'jus

right for water to form. l(epler-22bw

the first such planet to be foulld and

while it

is

now thought to have a thi

atm05phere that

may

be mhospitable

to life, it was very influential in helpi

to spur the discovery of new Earth-li

planets. One example of these was

Gliese 581

g.

a planet no mOle

than

40-metre mirror

Not only wilt

the

E-ELT s

4 m

131ft) mirror take pictureso

er known ex1fasolar planets,

it's also hoped il

will observe

Earth-sized exoplanets, 100


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Discover the wonders of the

Univers

3 m zing

arth like

pl n ts

our

I.Jmes

the mass of Earth silting

right in the middle the habitable

zone ofits host red dwarf star. While

a year on this plalll't is only 37 days.

observations suggest that

GHese

581 g

may

be

a suitable planet on which life

could

reside_

Another potentially life-harbouring

planet is tiD

85512 b,

a so-called

'Super-Earth', like Gliese 581 g. with

a mass at least 3.6 times that of our

home planet but with a temperature

that could potenl.Jally allow for the

existence of liquid water, which

is thought to be one of the key

components for HIe to form or survive.

Over the next few years, as our

methods

of finding

and

characterising

exoplanets become more allCl more

sophisticated, irs likely that more

Earth-like planets like these will be

discovered all over the Milky Way

.

C ese581g

DIIUnce

from

brth :

20 9Iw:if'1

Stu: Ioe e SIll C o n s t f : ~ n : l b

DI Icovf red: XlIO

Mua:37mbdl.... l3r

Tf:lllperature:

.20 (

,

: ;

-

-

~ < . . . ;

i ~ \ ; ; ~ ~ ~

: t ~ ;

,

1ID85512b

DlsWKf: from

uth

36lsh ,.,...

Stu:

liD 85512 ConstelLation,

DI Icovf red: Xlll

Mus: 3 lim bdlus: lXlIo n


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he Milley

Way is a major component

of

the

Local Group

- a small galaxy cluster

some 10 million light years across

Explore

the

Galaxies

A t t he inner l imi t o f

the

spiJal arms the b.lr and

hub

are surrounded by a

structure known as

the

5kHoparsec Ring one Idloparsec is around 26

light years . Although we cannot see it in visible light.

the ring seems to contain huge concentrations of

star

forming

nebulas and young stars it s probably

the

mam

generator

of new

stars in the

Milky

Way

Above and below the main disc lies a relatively

empty

regIon

known as

the halo.

Many

faint

long-lived stars

pass

through this region

on

tilted

orbits, but the

h.1la s

most obvious occupants are

globular clusters - dense balls containing many tens

of thousands

of

old

red

and

yellow

stars that are

generally found above and

below

the galactic hub.

Similar led and yellow

SldfS

dominate the hub and

bar - they are relatively poor

in

heavy elements.

which

allows

them

to shine for billions of years

without

evolving significdntly.

As

J result they are

known as

Population

J]

stars,

in

contrast to the

younger, fastelevolving and heavyelementenriched

Population

[

stars in the galacticdisc.

Among

aU

these stars, the huge maJOrity

are Jaw.

mass red and orange dwarfs - stars with a fraclion of

the mass ofthe Sun,

which

shine so faintly that they

Cdn only be seen when they are relatively nearby,

Brighter

and more massive stars are much larel, but

tend to shine out

over

huge distances and so appear

mOIl

plOminemly

in

our skies. SimiLlrly, ageing but

brilliant red and orange giants are common among

the naked< YC stats seen

from

Earth,

bu t in fact fal

rarer

than they might appear at

first

glance.

What s

more, stats

In

our galaxy seem

to

be

gregarious - although they gradually drift apart from

the open clusters in

which

they form, many stars

remain together

in

binary 1 multiple stal systems.

Recent

research

also suggests thai planetary system

all also common there

may

be at least as

many

planets

as

there are stars m the

sky.

Within

the hub, statS become

mor{

densely

pack

towards the centre of the Milky Way the galactic

core. Only

Xrays.

radio

waves

and some infrared

waves can pass through these dense star clouds

unaffected, but Ihey

leveal an

intriguing picture of

the strange and violent conditions

in

the

core

Itself,

Al radio wavelengths. the

core

is marked by a

complex

radIO

SOUI known as

5.lgittarius A

it

consists 1a bubblelike structure (SagittariUS A

West)

a

few

1l ns

of

light years across - probably

the remnant 1an enormous supernova explosion.

Embedded within this is a threearmed spiral called

Sagittarius A East

roughly

ten light years

across.

The middle

of

the spiral

coincide-s

with the densest

concentration

of

stars In the

Milky Way,

and a third

pointlike sourer of radio waves known as Sagittari

A

that is believed to

mark

the

Milky Way s

cemre.

X Tay emissions reveal

huge

bubbles

and

twisted

lobes

of

superhol

gas

across Ihe region a

mix

1

supernova rt mnants and the effects of

hot

stellar


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xplore

t

alaxies


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Ascent stage

This 2.8m 9.2ft high and

4.0m x 4.3m

13.2ft

x 14.lft

wide, Irreguiilrshaped stage

is

mounted on top o the

descent stage. It carr;es the

astronauts to and from the

surface of the Moon

Antenna

The

parabolic SbiInd steerable

antenna provides a

voice

and data communications

link with the

Manned Space

Flight Network. The parabolic

rendezvous radar

antenna

is

used

when docking with the

Apollo Command

Module

rew

compartment

The

pressurised compartment

h


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Explore

the Galaxies

programme on

ice.

In 2003 just days after finalising

a plan tobring

CNN

reporter Miles O Brien to the

International Space Station

(ISS).

the Columbia

disaster brought the programme to a stop again.

The

era

of true

space

tourism began in

2001,

when

multimillionaire entrepreneur Dennis Tito a former

NASA

engineer. became

the first private cilJzen

to

pay his own wayan a spaceflight. The American

space tourism company Space Adventures r o ~ e r e

the deal

w

the

Russian

government to the

reponed tune of 20 million

(12.7

million). Against

NASA s wishes, Tito flew with two cosmonauts

bo rd

a

oyuz

rocket for a

sevend y vISit

to

th e

ISS.

On his safe return, Space AdventUll'S got busy lining

up more wouldbe astronauts.

It

has since arranged

ISS visits for six more ddventurers mcluding

billionaire Cirque du Solei

CEO

Guy Laliberte who

flew

in 2009.

While Russia was happy to sell an extra

Soyuz

seat when

it

had

one

available. wasn t

looking

to

make space tourism its primary business, All signs

indicated the future of space tourism would be

privately owned spacecraft.

The private spacecraft

era

began with the Ansari X

Prize,

a 10

million (6.3

million)

reward for

the

first

private team who built a 'ship thai could carry three

people

to space

twice in

three wreks.

Inspired by

th

early 20th Century prizes

for

aviation advances, the

XPrize Foundation issued the challenge to move lh

world

towards low-cost sparenight.

The plan worked_ Backed by funding from

Microsoft co-founder Paul

Allen,

a team

led

by

aerospace engineer

Bun

Rutan completed he

challenge on 4 October 2004, The winning vessel

SpaccShipOne, employed a number

of

Innovations

minimise the danger and

cost

of launch and

re-enlr

Most

notably, instead

of

launching he craft vertica

from

the ground, the

team built

a jet-powered

mothership to carry SpaceShipOne into high altitud


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Rek>ased

at

about

kilometres (nine miles). the ship

needed much less rocket IXIwer to reach space.

The X Prize Foundation

set

thebar at

the

Karm.1n

line,

the

conventional

edge

of

space ,

While there s no

real

specific borderline, an altitude

o

100 kilometres

62

miles) puts you slightly

above

the point where

t

atmosphere

is too

thin for

aeroplanes

to

generate

enough l t to

fly. As

difficult

as

It is to reach this

region

of space, known

as

suborblt. it s

far

simpler

than climbing into orbit.

The added

thrust alld fuel

requirements make it much more challenging.

[t s no surprise then that most burgeoning

space

tourism companies

are

fonowlng SpaceShipOne s

lead

alld setting their

sights on

suborbital trips. Billionaire

entrepreneur Richard Branson w as s o impressed with

SpaceShipOne

that

he

parmered with

Burt

Rutan to

make the concept the backbone of a new commercial

spaceflight company: Virgin

Galactic.

Branson foullded the company n 2004 and

predicted his first customers would fly in

2007.

He pushed back the timeline, when

he

and Rutan

opted to

create

alarger version o the spacecraft

alld its mothership.

dubbed

SpaceShipTwo

and

WhiteKnightTwo respectively.

After training

exercises

with the first 100

customers, Virgin Galactic has deemed the two-hour

p ce

tourism

trek safe

for an adults in good health.

The

company

expects tobegin commerdal flights by 2014. at

200.000

127.000)

a

seat.

It

has

already taken 70

million 44.4 million) n delXlsits, from more than

536 astrollilut hopefuls.

Branson

offered William

Shatner a free ride

on

the inaugural flight. but he

declined. citing

an

aversion

to

vomiting

and

fiery

crashes.

Branson

has, however, mallilgcd to sign up

T om Ha nk s. Brad Pitt Angelina Jolle alld Katy Perry

The

American company

XCOR Aerospace

is

developinga promising commercial

space

plane

as

well.

Its

design. the Lynx, forgoes the mothership

strategy. opting instead for a

rocket-powered


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Explore

the Galaxies

horizontal takeoff. Wllhin a mmute of starting the

rockets. the Lynx

will

reach supersonic speeds. before

wring

up for

a

7S-degree

shot

to subOlbit.

XCOR

is designing

m >

ship

for

cargo and spact

tourism missions, wIth space

for

one

pilot,

one

pass( nger and multiple payload areas The nonprofit

group Citizens in

Space

has already reserved

100m

101

both payload and passengers on len

Lynx flights. Its

plan is to

lake 100 orso

cil.Jzl'nsc ence

experiments

Into suborbit in


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Space tourism

What

is

t

p ce

Tourism ociety

from

Earth orbit could someciaybecome an Olympic

sport,and my concept

for

IlleGreatwnarRcM r Race

Will be

in the works.

What advice

do yo u

have for anyone

who

is lookin

to work

in space

tourism?

Move

to LA. Or join theSpaWl appreciauon

01 how

bedutilul ourhome work

IS and how we nrod

to

work more clasl.'fy together.This

'Overview'(' fft'dls

in

my opinion themost impondnt

Whatare

the main

advantages

or commercial space

expIoratiODover government

space

programmes?

Actually. wa-king together like we are doingnow with

NASA paying

SpaceX

to supply CaTlP to the ISS

is

dgreat

thing.

The map- advantage

for

Xivate space

enterplise

tourism companies lSthat they profit motivated so

very eUkient. and [here

is

no limit

to how

large they

can grow. The spaceindustry is totallySCillable

and

had

limitless potential for bolh

profit

and

prestige.

What s the biggestmisconception about

space tourism

That

it sin

the

future,

On

28

April

2011.

our

Space

Tourism Sodery (S'1'S) hosted

a

dinner in LA ce1ebrating

the ten year anniver.>ary of the liftoff intoEarth

orbit

of

Dennis Tiro, the work. s first private

space

travellet.lle

spent

over

a

weekon board the ISS. Since then.

there

havebeen seven other privatespace traveller flights to

the ISS, withone person nying twice. There is awaiting

list of peoplewho can

pay

the $45 million

(28

million)

for

a night but there

is

no room

Cf1the

ISS any 1l'lClre.

Wh y did you decide 10 get involved in space

tourism in thefirst

place?

[always

Joved

science. spaceand


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Explore the Galaxies

he recibo

message

On 16 November

1974

astronomcrs Including Dr

rrank

Drake

and

Carl

Sagan devised a message

10 send Into thl distant leaches of space. The

message was Intended

to

show the possibilitIeS

of

communlc


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1 3

\

12 1

n

2

31

l

1

14 1

1 3

1

huge

amounts

of

power

that

would be easy to spot,

but this was not 0

It was widely believed that 510.,.1 had a good

chance of success, though, 0 in the Seventies

NASA

threw its hat into the ring. It established SETI

programmes

in California

at

its Ames Research

Center in Mountam VlI W and the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory n

Pasadena to look

for signals around

stars like our

Sun

or otherwise. n the midNinetK'S,

however,lunding was cut. and the srn Institute was

for e to go it alone.

srI'

uses

a number of antennas and arrays

around the

world.

such as the

Allen

Telescope Array

in California,

to

observe distant stars and discern

whether

they

are emitting any artificial signals

produced by an intelligent race. Within minutes 01

observmg a star they have an answer, but to this

day they have yet to

find

any conclusive evidence of

extraterrestnaJ

Intelligence. Undeterred, workersat

SETI continue to search for signs

of life,

and they re

extremely confident

that they

will find something.

To aid in SEn s study, the hunt for habitable

exoplanets

might allow

us to

find worlds

where

life could reasonably

be

thought to reside. Finding

habitable exaplanets

that

Slo.i'l canstudy for signals

is

something that

will prove of

great importance.

Of

course, planet hunting itself

is

an area

astronomy

that IS not even two decades old - the first exoplanet

was

not

discovered unti11995, But while planet

hunting might

still be in

its

infancy,

the results we

have obtained from lust a handful of telescopes are

astounding. NASA's Kepler space telescope, which

launched

from

Cape

Canaveral in

March 2009, has

found thousands

of

planet candidates in

b.arely

four years

of

operations, and some

of

these

offer

tantahsing hints of being habltabk>.

But

KcplC'r is

lookIng

at just a

tiny

portion of

our

gIant Milky Way, which

m turn

is r 'latively

small

m th ' grand schem of the univC'rst'. Ba5l d

on

data from Kepler, astronomC'rs

at

the Harvard

Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics t'Stimated m

January 2013 that there were at least 17 billion Eart

sized ( xoplanets in the MIlky Way, That s not a typo

billion.

not mtlll0n, Consider

that there

are

about

10

billion galaXlCS in

the known universe.

and

things

start

to

8< 1 really

cXClllng. Is It

really possible that.

out

of

1.7 trillion trillion pot('nllal planets in the 13.7

bl11ionyt'JroId universe only one, Earth, had the

necessary conditions 10

produce

Intelligent

life?

Ma

leadmg scientists

bellcve thiS to be unlikely.

Kepler, holvt'vcr, can only reveal very basic data

about an exoplanet. includmg

its

size,

mass

and

orbit. Future

telescopes.

like NASA's

Jamt'S

Webb

Space Telescope, wln

allow

us

to

study these plane

fl even moredetJil TIns giam space observatory,

whkh will launch

in

2018, might be able to directly

image

exoplanets and

('V('n

rcvealthe composltlon


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their atmosphere, a viLaI

clue

in discerning whether

they

are

habitable or llOt. Groundbreaking

research

into the possibility

of

measuring the atmospheres of

exoplanets for signs of methane, oxygen and other

elements, or even looking for signs of artifKialllghts

just

as we

can

see

the Earth

at

night from

space)

will

bring us closer to finding alien civilisations,

While we re searching for alien life, however, could

it

be

possible that other extraterrestrial

races are

also

doing the same thing? We ve been broadcasting our

position, both intentionally and unintentionally, by

emitting radio waves for about a century. fanyone

is within 100 light years of Earth, they

will

be able to

hear

us.

In

fact.

in 1974 we sent out something called

the Arecibo

message,

a broadcast of radio waves that,

for the first time, contained data about humanity that

could

e

interpreted by an alien race and understood

to

e

a call from our civilisation to theirs. It s not

incol ICeivable to think that other races might have

done the same thing; maybe there are thousands

of

Arecibo

messages

streaming through the

galaxy,

but

we

just haven t come

across

one

yet.

With all this talk of exoplanets, habitable worlds

and aliens, however, you might

be

forgiven

for

having

one

question burning in your mind;

if

there really

is intelligent life out

there,

then where is everyone?

You re

not alone in thinking this, Way back in 1950,

astrophysicist Enrico Fermi asked this very question,

which became known

as

the Fermi paradox,

He

argued that because the galaxy Isn t teeming with

spacecraft, or

that we ve

never

been

sent

a

message

from aliens, then either interstellar travel must

impossible therefore dashing our

hopes

of ever

exploring the galaxy) or

we are

the only Intelligent

civilisation in the universe,

There

are

a number

explanations

as

to why this

is so, but the mOS plausible relates to the history of

a

planet

IJke

Earth, Our pl.alK t is 4,6 billion years old,

but only in the

last

scvcral hundred million years

has it been inhabited y sophistIcated organisms,

Only in the

last

several thousand years has Intelligent

and senllentlife, namely humans, made its mark on

the

globe,

And only mtlle

past

one hundred

years

have w

seriously begun observing

and

exploring

the cosmos, and also sending out signals of our own.

Humanity won t e around forever: an extinction

event either natural or manmadc, could cut short

ve

lre dy

foun

life

There have been several instances where

controversial evidence suggested that w may

have already found life elsewhere in the umvers

Allan Hills 84001

In Antarctica on

oe>mber

1984, a team

of

American

scientists found a meteorite

named

Allan Hills

84001 AtH 84001) that shot to

fame

2

years

later when it

was

announced that it migh

conLain microscopic fossils of Martian bacteria.

However,

no conclusive evidence could prove

whether this was so,

The

Viking probes

In 1976. NASA landed two probes on Mars,

Viking 1and

2,

which

had

instruments to perform

biological experiments on the surface, Controvers

surrounded the

results;

early indications

sugges1e

they d found evidence of organic compounds. bu

some

claimed

that the natureof the

~ p r i m n t

which heated soil

samples,

would

have

destroyed

organics, wggesting the results were erroneous


50/180

~

et involved

withS TI

[f

you re

j n r ~ e s t e d in 1)e oming an alien hunter,

then there s never been iI beller time to

gel

Involved With

the

SET] lnslitule_ Head over to

the

website at WWW.seti0l8tofindOl.ll

mOle,

You

c a

mark

the universe It Will be

down to

the work of various

people around the globe to make the vllal discoveri

that could mdicate the presence

of

intelhgcnt

01 baS

liJe

elsewhere. Whether it s experts at NASA

workin

on a

highprofile,

nextgeneratton planethunting

machme such as the JanlCS Webb Space Te1csrope,

or it's the valiant workers who are lookmg fOlslgna

outside of our

Solar

System at SET , oreven the

asuobJologists searching for bactefia on another

world.

these dedicated

people Will

continue to

work

towards

findmg

alien life.

They


51/180


52/180

The Dragon

sp e psule

The first commercially produced and operated spacecraft

to

successfully enter orbit and return

to

Earth, and the

first to

deliver supplies

to

the International Space Station

Elan

Musk

founder of

SpaceK

named

this spacecraft mg as

credible as a the mythical beast.

The

Dragon is a reusable cone-

shaped space capsule.

It

has a

pressurised compartment to carry

cargo,

which in

future can be refilled

to carry seven crew members. n

unpressurised servIce module beneath

that section contains navigational

equIpment and propellant

for

the

Draco

thrusters that enable the 'craft

to

manoeuvred

in (,;arth orbit.

Underneath

it is

a

PICA X heat

shield

that can Withstand feentry from

an:>

plans,

however.

to fit

SupcrDraco thrusters

and

L:mdmg

gears to the capsule

to

enable ilto 1 meI on

solkl

ground.

After being founded

in

June

2002,

SpaceX developed the two-stage

52

Falcon

1liqUld-luelled rocket

It W lS

the

first commercial project

olns

tylJ C

to

put

a

satellite into

Earth

orbu

on

28

September

2008.

In the

meantime. SpaccX

began

work

on

the Dragon

CJpsulc

concept in

2004, Ayear later, NASA announced

its

intention to lund privJte companies

to build spacecraft to resupply the

International

Space

Slatlon

(ISS).

Under this Commercial Orbital

Transportation 5


53/180

The Dragon space capsul

The

International Space Station sCanaclarm2

robo

armgrabs lhe Dragon capsuleand manoeuvres it

dock wilh the station s Harmony mod

sensor bay

The door of this unpressurlsed comp.lrtmeot opens

after it enters orbit and closes before re-entry

Heat shield

Backed by 5pac

Proprietary

Ablative

Materia

5PAM), this

is

t

best heat shield

currently availab

for space capsu

Pressurised

compartment

This

section

hilS

a volume of 10m)

(353ft

l

) and

s

pressurised to enable

It to carry specialised

payloadsor

up

to

seven ew members

Service module

Contains computers,

guidance navigation

equipment, eight

propellant tanks and two

pressurant tanks

Nose cone

The nose cone protecls thecapwle

during launch and

Is

jettisoned

Thrusters before entering Earth orbit

Nitrogen tetroxide

monomethylhydrallne

propellant

provide

40kgf (90Ibf) of thrust

to 18 thrusters, to carry

out orbital manoeuvres

Pressurised

compartment

In cargo

mode

this is

fitted

with

a modular

fade

system to carry

standard-sired

payloitds

Trunk

This unpressurised

14m] 490ft ) volume

o m p ~ r t m e n t

carries

i1ddition


54/180

Explore the

Galaxies

training in

the

NBL

as

they would fo

the actual

EVA

The

suits each astronaut wears

for

the

NBL pool are very similar to

those

used

on an E :VA Many

ofthe

suit

components hal/{ ,

in fact.

been

salvaged from spacesuits

that

have

already seen

some

EVA action in orb

on the ISS. Ap.m from the addition o

weights and

neats

to gIl/{

the sui t w

its wearer Inside

the

properly of bein

neutrally

buoyant

while

in the

water

NBL

suitsare

distinguished by their

life support and environmental contr

systems.These

are self-contained wi

space EVA

suits but

while traming

i n t he

pool they're provided by an

umbilical cord attached to an externa

machme that

supplies electricity, wa

coolant arK pressurised breathing ga

Naturally, safety and the health

ofthe

astronautsintraining is

carefUlly observed while in th e

pool. Although

the

dives aren't

partICUlarly deep (12 metres 40 feet.

while deep for a swimming pool is

considered a shallow dive) they arc

for long penods of time. So the NBL

has a full

complement of

medical

staff on hand consisting

01

two

physiaans,

two paramedics and 12

physiology personnel.

The

NBL also

has a hyperbaric chamber onsue

to treat any dil/{'r suffering from

decompresSion sic1mess .

otherwise

known

as

the bends

reasons, performing

any

tasks slowly

and an awareness of

the

NBL pool can

help minimise these

limitations.

The

12,2'metre (40foot)

deep

pool

is primarily

used for

extravehicular

activlly (EVA) training. Astronauts,

particularly

those

embarkingon a

mission to

the

International Space

Station, practice full spacewalks lasting

five hours

at

a time, manipulating

objects and

moving around

Largescale

mock-ups of

the

craft they will be

working on.

The

fully

completed ISS,

at

107

x 73 metres (350 x 240 feet).

wouldn l

fit

inSide

the NBLS 52

x 31

metre

(202 x

102

feet) pool. but smaller

replicas 01

the module the astronauts

will work

on are

effeclJve

enough

to

fain With.The curren standard for

NASA

IS that astronauts.

depending on

th(' difficulty

of the

EVA. spend

fil/{

toseven t imes the amount 01 lime

How

astronauts

are

prepared

for

danger-filled space missions n

NASi\s

Neutral Buoyancy Lab

appears to hover in

the

same place

n water.

This

projX ny

of neutral

buoyancy is very simIlar

to

the

weightlessness endowed

by

the

lack

of

gravity

in

space:

an astronaut wearing

a neutral buoyancy suit

in

the pool

is easily manipulated just like they

would

be in

spdCt . but there are some

key

differences.

The

water drags on

the astronaut to make movement and

certain actions

(like

keeping an objo:t

still)

more

difficult

than

it

would

be in

space.

while makmg it casicr to sct an

obJ in motion Thc other problem is

that astronauts aren't truly wcJghtlc-ss

and can still feel the weight

of

their

bodies

while in

the

suit. For both these

Training

rOt

the

weightlessness of

space IS a major undertaking on

NASA s

part

thaI requires a dedicated

test facility and a ballery of cutling

edge equipment. As

zero gravity

freefal1 on a specially adapted night

isn't practical for long training periods

and antigravity machines are set

to remain the

stuff

of

sciell(e fiction.

NASA uses th e 23.Smlllion-Htre

(6.2milliongalJon) giant swimming

pool at its Neutral Buoyancy Lab in

Ilouston. Texas.

Neutral buoyancy itself is a property

of an object

that

gives it an equal

tendency to float to

the

surface as it

does

t o s ink to the

bottom, so

that

it

n t r

space training


55/180


56/180


57/180

t was

forme

Apollo

astronaut and

second man on the Moon Buzz

Aldrin

who

uttered the words, 'Forget the

Moon,

let's

head

to

Mars This is

something that mankilld has been

working to achieve since the Sixties.

of flyby

missions,

orbiters,

rovers and Llndes

have

been

sent

on oneway missions to shape our

ullderstanding of the

Red

Planet.

setting down the groulldwork that

will

one

day lead to

the moment an

astronaut sets foot on

Martian soil.

At an

average

distance

of

around

225

million kilometres (140 million

miles). Mars

might

IlOt e

as

close

to

the Earth as the Moon or Venus. but

the ruddycoloured pLanet's potential

to provide us

with information to sate

our appetites for knowledge as well as

the

opportunity

to

expand

our

species

to

allOther world today encourages

generations

of

scientists

to

overcome

this distance with reLative ease.

However, It was not always this way.

The Soviet Union was the

rlrst

country to launch robotic missions

to Mars,

with a number of failed

launches

and

probes in the Sixties.

By

the Seventies, howeve they had

compelllion from the

Americans. With

two countries setting their sights

on

I.hl'

Red

Planet,

the

race was wen

and

truly on, but who would get there

first?

On 19

May

1971. the USSR's Mars

2 successfully raced through the last

of Earth's atmosphere with the Red

Planet

In Its

sights.

Russia was In

with

a good chance 1 winning this round

of

the Spare Race.

With

the

suCC't'SSful

launch of Mars 3laking place a mere

nme days later. thiS only reaffirmed

i.hl'

Soviets'

confidence.

However, on 30

May

1971 NASA

released Mariner 9

mto

Till' skies above

Cape Canaveral. hot

on the heels

of

Mars 2and Mars l t reached Mars by

14

November

of till same

year,

beating

I.hl'sluggish Mars 2 and 3 by a

few

weeks. Even

so,

Mariner

9

had to

walt

out

months

of relentless

dust storms

raging

across

Mars

before it

could

take

any

of the 7,329 clear Images of rhe

Red

Planet that

it

uillmately beamed

back to

anxiously waiting scientists

on Eanh. It saw

river

beds,

craters.

canyons.

grear

extinct vokanoes

such

as OlympusMons, as well as obvious

signs

of erosion from

water and wind.

Following

Mariner

9's sllccessful

visit. in

1975

NASA launched the twin

Viking

missions, each one combmlng

an orbiter and landcr. But that was

It

until the mIdNineties. Smce then

sever.1I robors have been senr to

Mars, determined to

be

the

first

ro

underpin the principles which will

one day

allow

humans to set foot

on

the planet s

Sllrface.

Satellites have

included

NASA's

Mars Glob.l.l Surveyor

and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and

the ESA's

Mars

Express,

S well

as till

successful Phoemx and Pathfinder

landers,

while

the

Spirit.

Opportunity

and Curiosity rovers touched down on

Mars

to

Inspeclthe Martian soil

for

signs

of

life and to take a few snaps

of

their new home.

However,

as

we

push for greater

feats

rhe rovers don'r seem ro be

enough.

We

need something

more

sophisticated. according to adVOClre

of the manned

exploration

of Mars

and

American aerosp.1ce

engineer,

Or

Robert lubrin of the

Mars

Society. We

need to

go

to

Mars

ourselves.

I do favour sending robots to

Mars

and

am very

happy that

we're

doing

that: says Zubrin. They are just

the advance scouts

and

you know.

the rovers,

love

them, but there s

nothing they can

do

that we [humans]

couldn t do a thousand times faster:

While the

work

of rhe rovels has

provided us with

an incredible

~ o u t

of infoonation. signatures

of

past

life such 3S fossils could

easily

be

overlooked

by

the robots. You could

The

Orion

module replaces lh e C

now

cancelled

Constellation

Program asourfurure

hopes

to send

man

to Mars

p.1rachute

100 rovers

[to

Mars] and

you would IlE Ver

find

a fossil: lubrin

explains. Fmding fossils

involves

hiking through lots of terrain,

it

Involves

pick and

pickaxing

work

and

it

involves diligent

work

such as

carefully

splitting open shells

to

rind

preserved fossils. This is way beyond

th' abihty

of robotic rovers and if

you're

talking about whether humans

Destination Mar

could setlle on Mars, then clearly, yo

have to send humans.

So

to

Mars humans must go. And

in a change of dynamic,

agencies

and organisations

are looking

p.1st

unmanned missions and instead are

focusing on landmg the

first man on

the Red Planet in a step that makes

SCleJlce

fiction a reality.

The

feat has

become a race onc' again.


58/180

Explore the Galaxies

3.

NASA

4.

Mars One

Adamant

lhatlhl' ll'l'hnol ,ll'S to

1,IIUI

lht'

filsi

h nhlll'i

011 M.HS nisI

lJukh

,t,m,up

M,HS

011'-'

dum T

spt'nd

.Ill e TlIll,lll'd $f, hillioll 10

mill,llI

... s,'ml f ullnt l\'ldu,ll,

I

lilt

Ikd

PI,IIlt't. Tlll'v

Will

I , T,.sh'd

WIT

,...ttm '

up .I

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pl,lI11't III

dtl'''1I1''', M t ~

IIlSl,.lIl11g tlll'1I hahlt,.T, Ilw nWllllw

p(

till (lI,t

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... Uhldl' f Llith

will

bt'

exp, -.Wd to grow

Ih lf

own

IO ll. lIllIl leturn T M,utidll

Iblt

lI,illg

1lll'lh.1I1C' pro)lt'11,1Il1 111 ,1

.. from

Mdl''>

,;.IIlII'It'-ll'tlllll

ml>SIOIl

tJlll'tlllt'd [)r,l/:oll, th.11

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of lif.. ,

It>

long-krill

pl,IIIS, howl'ver,.H Tn

,,-'nd

,l

nlollllwd IlII ,iOIl

T

M,ns

III

,I

modlhl'd

H'r,IOIl of It,

,.iTe,ld\-, t ,i1T

Ilr,lgon l,lp'lIlt ', I Iw

ill fole

long

you

have the first humanseulemem

on another wolld: says Zubrm. TheI'C

is

nothl11g in

this that

IS bl:'yond our

tcchnology: we can

do

this.

Ind( ( (\,

other organisations al('

clamouring to be the first. SpaceX s

Eion Musk

has aheady staled that

he intends

to

go

to MJIs,

while

..,,;;::::.:--

istory rs exploration

The NDX-\

sp.KeSult

designed by aerospace

engineer

Pablo

de l.eon for possible use on

Mars.

was able to l Ildure

the

Icy

temperatures and

battering windsduJinglesls in

Antarctica

Zubrln thinks he knows

how

to win

the race. In the N i l l l . l ~ he ~ l o p e

a daring plan that he called

Mars

Direct. lh basic idea of the Mars

Direct mission is to explore

Mars

With

a travel-light philosophy: he says

'Rather than buildmg gl.lnt spaceships

loaded with all of the food. watt'L air,

fuel and Clygen required

for

a

round

trip mission,

we lr y to

make the most

important of these on Mars,

ror

example, Zubrin

proposes thaI

an ullmanned

mISsion go

ahead

first,

carrying

with

it

an Earthreturn craft

and

the ability

to make rocket fuel on

Mars by reacting hydrogen with the

carbon dioxide in Mars s atmosphere

to

create the methalll' and

oxygen

rocket plOpellant and oxicllser. So

now you have a fully fuelled Earth-

return vehicle

walting

on the MartJdn

surface:

he

says. Then

you

$hoot

I do favour

sending robots

to

Mars ...

but

they are just the

advance scouts

1971

Mars3

This was

the first spacecraft

to achieve a soft landing on

the surface of

Mars but

a

great dust storm (Jused a

communications

failure.

1976

Viking1 2

The

Viking programme

reWIIle< hi-res images,

studied thesurface

and

atmosphere and allempted

10 sear


59/180

4

pportunity

The Opportunity

rover

has

found Martian meteorites.

looked into geological

processes and studied

surface

composition.

6

Mars Reconnaissance

Orbiter MRO

With asuite o instruments,

the MRO c:ontinues

to

analyse Mars s weather and

surface

conditions.

2 2

Curiosity

Curiosity is providing

information on the past

and present habitability of

Mars as well as taking hi-re

images

of the

landscape.


60/180

xplore

t

alaxIes


61/180

The basic idea

of

the Mars

Direct

mission

is

to

explore

Mars with a travel-light

philosophy

Destination Mar

be

able to

get [he-

financial backing

that they need in the time required?

Developing a transportation system

which brings people

to Mars

and bac

safely

is

something that will probably

take more than the few years left

to

the

2018

deadline: adds

Gromer.

honestly

wish

them all the luck.

but

I am pessimistic that they can really

achieve the super-tight schedule:

Another proposed privately funded

manned mission

is

that

of

Mars

One

not-far-profit organisation based in th

Netherlands that intends to establish

permanent human settlement on

M

by

2023.

by

sending astronauts there

on a

one-way

trip. The-ir plan is to

ge

funding by turning the adventure in

a reality TV show.

However.

Gromer

less convinced

by

their plans than h

is

fnspiration

MJrss.

Unlike

the team

of

Dennis

Tito. th

Mars One

team

lacks

the expertise

and

knowledge how

to approach

such super-ambitious progrilmmes:

he says.

Just simply recruiting and

maintaining such Iilrge ilstronaut

corps

is well beyond their

cilpabilitie

not

to

speilk

launchers. hilbitats.

spaCt'Suits etc.

Having

big

players lik

SpaceX [behind theml certainly help

but there is no indication these are

doing it for

free. Thilt

meilns. that ev

former

pm ate astronaut

Dennis Tito

has launched Inspiration Mars,

an

organisation that plans to send two

humans - a male and female. likely

married - on a flyby mission

of Mars

in 2018.

It's

a plan that

Zubrin

himself

pltched

to

NASA

in 1995.

but

they

didnt take him up on the idea.

Really

the key question of whether

Tito is

going to pull this

off is

whether

he can raise

the 2

billion

needed:

says

Zubrin. NASA is funded

to

a level

of 18

billion

per year.

Now

2

billion

is nothing to the government but it

is a

lot in

the private

world. but

really

if NASA had the courage

of

Tito we

would have done this when I proposed

it to them

In

1995.'

Dr Gernot Gromer

of

the University

of lnnsbruck and head of the

MARSl013

project agrees with Zubrin.

This

is

a truly ambitious plan. he

says.

f

you look

at

their papers where

they describe the mission

profile.

it

is well thought through andwritten

by

experts who are very good in

their subjects. However,

for

trajCClory

reasons they have to

keep

the 2018

deadline: That s the

big

problem.

says

Gromer.

Dennis

Tito is

only

lunding the

first

three years

of

that

profCl=t untllthe really high

financial

demand kicks in. Will they then


62/180


63/180


64/180

theu

crewmates,

Mars-SOO

which

r.an

between 7 and

2011

and admitted

three separate crews, proved a success.

with most volunteers reportedly being

in

good

physical

nd

psychological

condition, However, with simulated

missions to the Red Planet far from

over. experts want to put potential

astronauts to the testeven more, How

would they deal with completmg

actual scientific experiments and

walkmg

for

miles across the tough

Martian terrain?

For such an occasion there was the

aforementioned MARS2013 project.

which took place in February

2013.

The monthlong simulation was

initially

b sed

at Camp Weyprecht

in the Mars-like Moroccan desert.

before a three-


65/180

involving

3

nations

and

more th.:ln

100scientists. The team performl d

7 scientific experiments, as well as

fieldtesting new spacesuit designs

and deployable shelters, acting out an

astronaut-injury situation and testing

cHff.climbing robots.

Like

Mars500, a

20minute lime delay was lncludl d

in all communications with I::arth ,

simulating the wait as radio waves

travel at the speed of light from Mars

to I::arth and then back again. Data

collected from such simulations is

important in planning ndpreparing

for

the real thing.

And when that real thing likely

to occur?The Mars enthusiasts at

Inspiration Mars, Mars One, the Mars

Society

and

SpaceX would argue tha

it could happen by the

end

of the

current decade, or the beginning of

next

Others, howevel. are playing it

safer,

and

suggesting 2030 or later

as the most likely date for mankind

to reach the Red Planet. In the

end

it

will

be

decided

by

who can raise

the necessary money and have the

rourage that ZUbrin says is essential

make history by being the first to se

people to Mars


66/180


67/180


68/180


69/180


70/180

The core reaches a temperature of abou

15

million degrees

Celsius,

hot enough fo

thermonuclear fusion to take

place

Discover the Solar System

At about ISO million kilometres (93

mlllion mill. s) from

Earth

lies

a giant

mcandl. SCl nt

ball

ofgas weighmg in

at

almost 2,000 trillion trillion kilograms

and emitting power

equivalent

to

1

million

times the annual power

consumption

of

the

United

States

in a single second. Since the dawn

of Earth


71/180


72/180


Like

the Earth, the Sun has an atmosphere, but the two are very different. The

Sun s can be incredibly volatile with powerful magnetic activity that causes

phenomena referred to as solar storms here on Earth

Solar storms ale violent outbUists

of

activity on

the Sun that interfere

with

the Earth s magnetic field and

inundate

our

planet with particles.

They are the result

o

outpourings

o energy from th

Sun,

either in the

form ofa

Coronal Mass

Ejection

CME)

or

a solar

nare.

The

former

is a release

of

a

large

amount

of materia . mostly

plasma. from the Sun whil th latter

is

a sudden release of electromagnetic

radiation commonly associated with a

sunspot. While no dlJ l C1 connl Ction

has been found between CMEs alld

solar flares. both

are

responsible for

causing

solar

storms on Earth.

The

reason why

these

two

events occur

is

due to the Sun s atmosphere and

its

turbulent interior. with dll of Its

components playing a part in bathing

our planet

in

bursts of

energy.

The lowest

part of the atmosphere.

the part dirl Ctly above the Sun s

radiative zone, is the photosphere.

This is the visible part

of

t he Sun t hat

we can see,

it

is

300 400

kilometres

180-240 miles) thick

and

h as a

temperature

of

about 5530 degrees

Celsius 9,980 degrees Fahrenhelt).

This producesa white glow although

from Earth this usually appears yellow

or orange due to our own atmosphere.

As

you travel through the

photosphere away from the Sun s

core the temperature begins to drop

and

the gases become cooler. in turn

emining lesslighl. This makes the

photosphere appear darker at its outer

edges and gives the Sun

an

apparently

clearly defined outer boundary,

although this is certainly not the case

as the atmosphere extends outwards

much further.

O nce you pass t hr ough t he

photosphere you enter the

chromosphere. which is about 2.000

kilometres

0.240

miles) thick. The

temperature rises to about 9,730

degrees Celsius

(17,540

degrees

Fahrenheit), surpassing that of the

photosphere. The reason for this

is

that the conve


73/180

Intensi

SOlar

wind

typiCa

travels

at

1 6

milliOn k

on million mph). b

the

aplosive

event th

emits

a

solar

flare

c

send

it

hlKtling towar

t/l@ Earth

up

to fo

limes fast

7

Cyd

Solar flares

peak., l I ~

on

t i Y i t y ~

T

~

of these cydes

unknown.

In

petil;xh

inactivity there

un

less

thMI

one flare we

but when

the

Sun

is

its

busiest

there

severall Wf}'

cl

Explosio

A solar can relea

up

10

6 ~ l O joules

energy .n it explod

from

t

SlriKe of t

Sun. The giant clouds

r lJon Ill partick5 c

wke

up

to two

d ys

tr Jvel to

the

Em

Magnetosphe

The magnelic:

fl't

StnOUndinc the

E


74/180


75/180


76/180

the Solar

System

capalje detoomg mcom1ll8 sola'

flares

lhal

could

be

potenually

ha.zardous

10 satelhle5 an d OIheJ

eleruomcs on E.uth.

Of the

12

InstIUments on board

SOHO one of tile' most InterestlJ18 is

tile'

Larse Angle and Specnomemc

Coronagraph

(LASCOl wlUch

studies

tile' Sun s

mona

by

creallllg an

a.mrlCiaJ

solar

eclipse.

The

LASCO

mSirumelll

has been

latJeIy responsible lor lnadvcrtCfltly

dl.SOM'nJ18

many cometS near the

Sun.

wilh OYer 1.800 lound 10 date.

5OHO has three pnrnary

o b ectlv e5

that

It

has been carrying

OUI since

ItS launch. One of thesewas to

invesllgate the outer regions of the

Sun.

speorlCally the corona.

At the momentlt IS still unknown

why the corona is hotler than the

photosphere

and

chromosphere of

the Sun, so it is hoped thai SOHO

might help

to

provide the answer

in

th e

future. OHO has also been used

to observe the solar wind. and also

to study the interior struClure of the

Sun

through a process known

as

helioselSlllology

ThL> Solar

an d

e ~

Ob:servalDry.

also known as 50110.

was

bunched

on 2 December 1995.11 was

built In Europe by prime COOlJaCtOr

Matra Marroru Space. whICh IS now

::ADS

AslJium.

The

spacecraft is

operated

JOIntly

by

th e and NASA.

It

studll'S the Sun In depth. a.1I the way

from

its

deep COIl.

to

ItS

oute1

corona

and its

soIa.J Wind.

50110

is ma.de

of

two modules,

the

Servire

Module and the Payload

Module. The lormer prov1des SOlID

with power.

while th e

Ianer houses

aU

of

the

mstrumeTtls on

the

spacecraft.

Ovl rallihere are

12

instrumeT1lS on

board

50110.

mne of which are run

by Europe as

well

as Ihree

from

the

Umted srales.

SOIlO

is

located nea.r to Lagrangian

point

I

which

IS

a point

bel:ween

the

Earth and the Sun about

15

million

kilometres (930.000 miles)

from

our planet.

It

is

the point where the

gravitational allraet.lon of the Sun and

the Earth cancel out. so a telescope

such as SOHO can remain In a

stabl Sun provides lhe energy for

on Earth.

It

seems quite natural

tl1


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Discover the

Solar

System

serving

th

un

Hwnanity has been fascinated by the

Sun

for

thousands of years and even

primitive records still prove useful.

Discover more about

the

past, present

and future of studying the Sun

Solar

edlpsesare.l

popular

time tD view tlR

SUn

but

USinJllhe CU t Ct

vi win equipment is very

ImpOl1anl for

Civilisations

have used the

Sun to keep an accurate

count

of days.

months and

years since

at

least

BC

Qbse ,ations

of

the Sun have

been used lor both scientific and

religious ~ r v t j o n s lor mlllennia

Civilisations havt used the Sun

to kPep an accurate count Of days.

months and years since

at

least

3OOBC.

while scientists such as G< liIeo

studied

th{' Sun

through telescopes to

discern some of its characteristics.

At the Chanklilo

archaeological

sil{o

in

Peru can be found

the oldeSt

SOlJl

observatory

in

the Americas, a group

of 2 300year old structures used

10

track

the

motion

of

Ihe Sun known

as

the Thirteen Towers These towers

provide

J

rudimentary solar calend.u

through which the Sun can

be

traced.

The

towers,

( Jell between 7S and

125 square ml lres (807 and

1.345

square

feet

in

Slle

run from north

to west along a ridge along a low IIl ll

from an observation

XltnllO

the west

of

the

ridge

the Sun call be seen

to

nse and set t different

points

along

the

ridge,

which allowed ancient

civilisations

to track

the number

of

days

takes the

Sun

to

mO\ (' from

lower

to towel.

Much later. n 161l.

the renowned

Italian astronomer Gahleo

Galilei

(1564164l) use

the sun

is

the Japanese Jlinode spacecrafL

Hinode

is

a telescope in sun

synchronous 8arth

orbit,

which allows

for

nearly continuous

obS(>rvation

of the Sun.

It

was

launched

on

September

lOO6

and was initially

planrK'd

as a threerlllssion study

of

the magnetic rlClds

of

the Sun, but itS

mission has since been extended as

it

contInues to operate nominally.

Another important Sun-


79/180

All about the Su

ifferent ways

to

observe t un

On Earth we elceive the Sun to

be

yellow ball of

gas

in

the sky

but

like anything

as hot as

the

Sun.

it

is

olCluiilly closer to being

white hot when viewed from

sp;: Ce. The e ,ne several telescopes

currently observing the Sun but

the large majority of our images com

from

the

STEREO telescope

and

the solla observatory, both

in

orbit

around the Sun. By viewing the Sun

different wavelengths

we

can study

different characteristics and see som

of its main features in a diffe/entligh

Infrared

Infrared light

responsible for more than

halfof the Sun s power output, typically

around wavelengths of 1,080 nanometres.

Infrared Images show features of the Sun s

chromosphere

and corona. The dark

features

on the image are

areas

where the gas is more

dense, absorbingmore infrared light than in

other areas.

X ray

Light with awavelength shorter

than

ten

nanometres ten billionths of ametre

Is

known

as

Xray light. Xrays

are

emitted from the

Sun s

corona, the hottestvisible layer of the Sun s

atmosphere, The visible

areas

of brightness are

places where more

Xrays

are being emitted,

around

areas

of

increased

ilCtivity

on

the

Sun s surf.lCe.

Ultraviolet

Images of the Sun in

u l t r a v ~ t

light are

between

wdvelengths of

aboot

19.5 and 30.4

nanometres. Such an

im


80/180


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.

..

.


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;cover

the


83/180

Moon

colonie

America's challen,ge

01

t0d3y has

forged man s destinyof OlTlOrTOW

said

Apollo 17 astronaut

Gene

~ l i n

as

he stepped back

into

the

Lunar

Mcxlule wllh fellow astronaut .Jack

Schmllt

on 14

December

1972. The

Apollo

llUSSlortS

were expected

10

IOCkslart an of human

explor.ltion. indudtng lunar colonies.

manned Mars missions an: posstiy

ventures beyond. But four

decades

Ial:et:. and

IIx

PIPE' dll ams

of

2OI:h

Cenl:ury V SlOOo)nes seem funher aw

than that

fateful

firsl:

Sl ep in

1969

Irs no exagger ltJOO

to

say

thaI.

in

the

year 2012.

many had pt dicred

space

to be

teemmg WIth human hll

The

fact

thaI irs not s M fa o handf

of astronauts aboard an orbnlns spac

SLltion. is a disappomlI11el1l to many

a space enthusiast. 8m is

it

really

all doom

and

gloom?

Are

we

truly

destlJlE d

10

remam

COflSlr.lined to

ou

Blue PLmet left

observe the

Moon

from afar rather than sel:lilli i0oi:. an

wing.

where

only a dozen men have

done so befon ?

If somethmgcan

be done.

II

ub.unalely Will be

done

Silys Dr

Paul SpudIS. talking 10 us about

the possibility of a future Moon

settlemcnt.

If

ilSOlTll.

pomt il

make

scnse for the Moon to

be

IX Tmal l nt

inhabited. then it will happen:

Dr Spudls

is

somewhat of

an

expe

when it comes

to

lunar exploration.

He is

currently a senior staff scientist

.:It

the Lunar

and

Planetary InstItute

in Houston,

Texas.

and has

worked

on both the Indian Chand Jyaan

Moon programme and

NASA's

Lunar

Reconnaissance Orbiter. H{

also

served on a

Whiw House

panel

10

analyse a return

to

tix Moon and the

estabhshment of a lunar base.

From

tix

outsidl Iookmg in

a

posslble Moon colony might SC('m

improbable. if

001

Impossible.

but

irs

an Idea that

has been sttggested

by

scientists SIJ1Cl Iix dawn of the space

age.

includmg

Dr

SpudlS himself

advocate a

TC lum to

the Moon

to

use n

for

the creation

of

a

new

5p


84/180

Dec 9n

Apollo 7

While

the

last

humalls on the

surface

were

Americans Gene

Cernan and Jack Schmitt.

_ 22

Aug

976

Luna 24

This

was the last spacecraft to

date to

land

on the Moon and

return lunar samples to Earth.

r

-

Nov

8

Chandrayaan

This Indian probe

found

water

olllhe Moon. and released an

impactor to Ihe surface.

istory

ofMoon

exploration

r

3 Feb 1966

luna 9

This

Soviet

'cralt was the lirst

probe 10

land

on the

Moon

al'ld return surtlce Images.

r

3 May1966

Surveyor

The

first StKcesslul unmanl'led

American Moon

landing

returned 11,000 pictures.

July 1969

Apollo

Neil Armstrong

and

BUll

Aldrin

were

the first humans

to

set

foot on

the

Moon,

Dr

Spudis highlights the need

to quantify

how

much waler icc Is

available to ensure the success of a

lunar colony: Although we koow thaI

water

exists on lhe Moon, we have

many questions boDr

Its physical

stare

and how

It

varies

in

conc:entli1tion. We

need

ro prOSpl'(t and map ice deposlrs,

eXIT..,ct

some water

to

delermine

how

dlfficulrlt may be, and use il in space

to completely demonstrate the use

of lunar water

from an

endtoend

systems engineering basis,'

Whatever

the true qUilnrlty of

water

on the Moon, the possibility

of colomslng rhe

Moon

ls not only

exciting but also incredibly useful.

From a purely fmaada. perspel:tive.

the

plOSpectS

misht set'm bleak.

F..stlmatcs

suggest a lunar colony

would

cost

upwards

of

tens

of bIllions

of

dollars.

an amount of money simply

not

available to any space agency

in

the world.

But

the parenti l returns are

huge. in the form of

job

creation, new

mventlOns and bener rechnologl('5.

P every dollar invt'lited in the Apollo

miSSion,

it

15

saJd

that around 20

dollars

were

remmed to the American

economy. The prospect of a permanent

residence on the Moon would only

Increase the porenl1a] rerum, And

rhis

is

befole we even consider the

exislence of helium-3 on

rhe

lunar

surfa>. an isotope blasted across the

Moon by solar

wind

rhal could be

the key ingredient

to

creating

fusion

reaclors, and Iherefore

huge

sources

of

powl'r, on Ealth.

lIumanity is

not JUSt

a species

drivl'n by

money.

though, despite

what some would have yO\. believe.

We are inquisitive, curi01.1S, and we

constantlystrlve 10 furthel understand

the natural

world

Mound usand

the umvelSE' as a whole. COnfining

\ l r ~ l v e s to

our world and failing to

invest

lJl

manned sp.lCe e.xplorallon

wO\. ld be akm to giving up on OUI

natural

habits. to learn,

and would

relegate

us b.lck to an age where

humans merely looked upon the

stars with fondness, rather than the

rhought that

rhey could

be explored.

h

refelence

of

water on the

Moon

is

an important one. and is onl' of thl

primary

T \5Cln5 Ihatlunar

eltp orauon

has s uc h a n intriguing talking

point

once agam. TIlE discovery

ofwat(>f on the lunar surface was

fOimally announced

by NASA on

24

St'ptember

2 9 Found

by thi:'

Chandrayaan-l orbiter and impact

probe, it was a huge announceml'nt

wIth faHeaching ramifiutlons.

As

Dr

Spudis

mentions, water

a vItal ingredient for any form

or manMd space explOration. It's

'55ential

for llfe, and

its

conStlluents

hydr

to accomplish, Ie alone one nation

going it alone.

Ttli'

discoveryof water

on the Moon, hidmg as

Ice

in the

shadowed and cold rroches of the

deepest JunJl craters. raised the

very

real

possibility of a lunar colony being

Sl'lf-sustaming. rather than rehant on

resupplies from Earth,

'Water

on the- Moon is

tlll' most

important discovery for spacenlght

since

thi.'

rocket equation: explams

Dr

Spudls, 'It means that we can

learn how to 'hvc off lhe land' on the

Moon, an essential sklU for any SpJCC -

Fanng species.'

It's

not

quite as easy as

l.Jndlng

on

the Moon and scooping up

buckelFuls

of waler, however. While water

ICt'

('xist.s, us quantities are up for deb.lte.

The owestestimates place

at

makmg

up

lust 0.00001 per cent of

a portion of lunar soil. sparser thJn

the driest deserts on E.1rth

Upper

estimates suggest a quanllty of 85 per

rent, a

much

more uselul..,mount If

COllect. In March 2010. Chandrayaan1

agam mdde.m Important discovery,

this time llnding 40 permanently

darkened craters neaJ the Moon's poles

with a potentiaJ 600

million

metric

tons 1.3 trillion pounds) of Willer

ice

If

the upper eslimate holds uue.

84

we're

not

far

away from

returning man

to

the

Moon

ana creating a

Moon base

r aul Spudls

seniorstaffsdentist

LunarandPlanetaryInstitute



85/180


86/180


87/180

Moon colonie

riv tising

the Moon

The besl: WiJY to coIorusl the Moon

mighl be ID

INhse

the

commen::ial

benefItS of

il,

seulement

expl ft AI Globus told

us.

Globus

has

(l evxlUSIy

woRed

on the ISS from

Earth and. alongside betng chairman

of the N a Ollil

Space

Sooety s

Space

Setllefneont

Advocacy Commlltee. he

IS a big

proponent

of

seulemen

and has

WYil:ten

many paJX fS on

lhe

subject.

By theend of the 2010s. Globus

said. governments around

the

wiD haw

a number

of landers

and

orollers OIl and around the Moon.

The

big change

in

manned

space

exploration, however.

will be the hug

growth of the

private sector.

Sub

orbtlaltourism with the hkes

Virg

Galactic willl4ke-off. with

O'Ier

LOO

people a Y\ ar reaching space

by

2020

The next two decades will see

lun

mming companies begm to spring u

on the Moon.

he

continued. although

they

cook struggle financially

at

first

The

key

For

their success

will

be the growth

of

the space tounsm

Industry;

even

though the ISS

will

be

d


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and bruised by Jupiter and its other

moons.

10 sits at a distance of 420 00

kilometres 260.000

miles

from

Jupiter, which might

sound quite

far

away but consider that our own

Moo

sits 385.000 kilometres 240.000

miles away

from us and that Jupiter

almost 318 times more massive than

Earth,

while

10

is

almost exactly the

same size

as

our Moon.

For

this

reas

it s obvious

that

while

the Eanh

exerts a

small but OOliceablc

force

on the Moon, causing it to become

gravitationally

locked

to our planet

only a billion or so years ago, Jupiter

elrerting a

huge

force

on 10

This moo

which

itself is gravitationally

locked

Volcanic plumes

on 10 can tower JOOkm t9O

miles)

in

height

and

reiCh

half

the

speed

thai

would be needed

toescape the gravky

th

OO

Alien volcanoes on

1

and present are

as

clear as

day,

with large volcanic

rings the size of

California encirding either dormant

or active vokanocs.

While

data lrom the Voyager probes.

and later the Galilco spacecraft

has

shown

us volcanic plumes erupting

from the surfaceof the moon, we

are also able to discern some of

lo s

eruptingmonsters from observations

on Earth. Some vokanoes

have

even

been active for v r two

decades,

meaning that the driving

force

below

lo s

surface is even

more

violent and

ferocious than once thought.

all about space - tour of the universe 2014 (gnv64)

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