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Space News Update — October 4, 2013 —

Contents

In the News

Story 1:

ALMA Discovers Large Hot Cocoon Around Small Baby Star

Story 2: NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter granted ‘Emergency Exemption’ to

Resume Processing during Government Shutdown

Story 3:

Desert Trial for ESA Mars Rover

Departments

The Night Sky

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Space Calendar

NASA-TV Highlights

Food for Thought

Space Image of the Week

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1. ALMA Discovers Large Hot Cocoon Around Small Baby Star

A large hot molecular cloud around a very young star was discovered by ALMA. This hot cloud is about ten

times larger than those found around typical solar-mass baby stars, which indicates that the star formation

process has more diversity than ever thought. This result was published in Astrophysical Journal Letters on 20

September 2013.

Stars are formed in very cold (-260 degrees Celsius) gas and dust clouds. Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are

dense regions of such clouds, and thought that in which clusters of stars are formed. Since most of stars are born

as members of star clusters, investigating IRDCs has a crucial role in a comprehensive understanding of the star

formation process.

A baby star is surrounded by the natal gas and dust cloud, and the cloud is warmed up from its center.

Temperature of the central part of some, but not all, of such clouds reaches as high as -160 degrees Celsius.

Astronomers call those clouds "hot cores" -- it may not be hot on the Earth, but is hot enough for a cosmic

cloud. Inside hot cores, various molecules, originally trapped in the ice mantle around dust particles, are

sublimated. Organic molecules such as methanol (CH3OH), ethyl cyanide (CH3CH2CN), and methyl formate

(HCOOCH3) are abundant in hot cores.

International research team, led by Takeshi Sakai at the University of Electro-Communication, Japan, used

ALMA to observe an IRDC named G34.43+00.24 MM3 (hereafter MM3) in the constellation Aquila (the

Eagle). They discovered a young object from which the methanol molecular line is strongly emitted. A detailed

investigation tells them that the temperature of the methanol gas is -140 degrees Celsius. This shows that MM3

harbors a baby star surrounded by a hot core. The size of the hot core is as large as 800 by 300 astronomical

units (1 au equals the mean distance from the Sun to the Earth, about 150 million km). Typical size of hot cores

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around low-mass young stars is several tens to a hundred au, therefore the hot core in MM3 is exceptionally

large. Sakai says, "Thanks to the high sensitivity and spatial resolution [of ALMA], we need only a few hours to

discover a previously unknown baby star. This is an important step to understand the star formation process in a

cluster forming region."

The team also observed radio emission from carbon sulfide (CS) and silicon monoxide (SiO) to reveal the

detailed structure of the molecular outflow from the baby star. The speed of the emanated gas is 28 km/s and the

extent is 4,400 au. Based on these values, the team calculates the age of the outflow as only 740 years. Although

molecular outflows are common features around protostars, an outflow as young as the one in MM3 is quite

rare. In summary, ALMA finds that the protostar in MM3 is very young but has a giant hot core.

Why is the hot core in MM3 so large? In order to warm up such a large volume of gas, the baby star should emit

much more energy than typical ones. Protostars produce emission by converting the gravitational energy of

infalling material to thermal energy. The large size of the hot core in MM3 is possibly due to a higher mass

infalling rate than ever thought. The other possibility is that two or more protostars are embedded in the hot

core. The research team has not reached the reason with this observation yet. "ALMA's spatial resolution

improves much more in the near future," Sakai says. "Then much detail of the infalling material toward the

protostar can be revealed, and it helps us answer to the mystery behind the diversity in star formation."

Source: Spaceref.com Return to Contents

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2. NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter granted ‘Emergency Exemption’ to Resume Processing during Government Shutdown

Following a three day period of complete work stoppage due to the US Government Shutdown, technicians late

today (Oct. 3) resumed critical launch preparations for NASA’s next mission to Mars, the MAVEN orbiter. And

it’s not a moment too soon, because the consequences of a continued suspension would have been absolutely

dire for the entire future of Mars exploration!

“We have already restarted spacecraft processing at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) today,” Prof. Bruce

Jakosky, MAVEN’s chief scientist told Universe Today in a special new mission update today.

Today, Oct 3, top NASA managers have “determined that MAVEN meets the requirements allowing an

emergency exception relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act,” Jakosky said.

MAVEN had been scheduled to blast off for the Red Planet on Nov.18 atop an Atlas V rocket from the Florida

Space Coast until those plans were derailed by the start of the government shutdown that began at midnight,

Tuesday (Oct. 1) due to senseless and endless political gridlock in Washington, DC.

About 97% of NASA’s workforce had been immediately furloughed on Oct. 1 and ordered not to go to work –

along with some 800,000 other Federal employees – when their work was deemed “non-essential” despite

maintaining spacecraft valued at tens of billions of dollars.

This left only skeleton crews manning Mission Control’s for dozens and dozens of ongoing space missions and

the International Space Station (ISS).

Despite the work hiatus, the team is still hoping to achieve an on time launch or soon thereafter. “We are

working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18,” Jakosky, MAVEN principal Investigator of the University

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of Colorado at Boulder, said. “We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in

our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track.”

The processing team at KSC lost three days of the nine days of margin in the schedule. The nominal launch

window for NASA’s $650 Million MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission) mission to

study the Red Planet’s atmosphere only extends about three weeks until Dec. 7.

And he said the team will do whatever necessary, including overtime, to launch MAVEN to the Red Planet by

Dec. 7. “The team is committed to getting to the launch pad at this opportunity, and is willing to work double

shifts and seven days a week if necessary. That plus the existing margin gives us some flexibility. “

Interestingly, the ‘’emergency exemption” was granted because of MAVEN’s additional secondary role as a

communications relay for NASA’s intrepid pair of surface rovers – Curiosity and Opportunity – and not

because of its primary science mission. “MAVEN is required as a communications relay in order to be assured

of continued communications with the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers,” Jakosky explained.

Although NASA has two functioning orbiters circling the Red planet at this moment, they are getting old, are

far beyond their original design lifetimes and suffer occasional glitches. And there is no guarantee of continued

operation.

“The rovers are presently supported by Mars Odyssey launched in 2001 and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

launched in 2005. Launching MAVEN in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today,” according to

Jakosky.

If Mars Odyssey and/or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were to fail, then the rovers mission operations would be

severely curtailed and could even be terminated prematurely – in a worst case scenario.

And without MAVEN, there would be no point in launching NASA’s planned 2020 rover since there would be

no way to transmit the science data back to Earth. “There is no NASA relay orbiter at Mars planned post-

MAVEN,” Jakosky noted.

If MAVEN has to launch later in December 2013 or is forced to be postponed to the next launch window

opportunity in 2016, both the communications relay capability and the missions atmospheric science objectives

would have been very badly impacted. “A delay in the launch date by more than a week past the end of the

nominal launch period, or a delay of launch to 2016, would require additional fuel to get into orbit.”

“This would have precluded having sufficient fuel for MAVEN to carry out its science mission and to operate

as a relay for any significant time,” Jakosky elaborated. “Our nominal launch period runs from 18 November

through 7 December, and we can launch as late as about 15 December without a significant impact on our

combined science and relay activities.”

From a purely science standpoint, 2013 is the best time to launch MAVEN to accomplish its science objectives.

“Although the exception for MAVEN is not being done for science reasons, the science of MAVEN clearly will

benefit from this action. “Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the eleven-year solar

cycle.”

“MAVENS’s goal is determining the composition of the ancient Martian atmosphere and when it was lost,

where did all the water go and how and when was it lost,” said Jakosky.

Source: Universe Today Return to Contents

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3 Desert Trial for ESA Mars Rover

Next week will see ESA’s most ambitious planetary rover test yet. Robotic exploration of a Mars-like desert in

South America will be overseen from the UK, providing experience for future missions to the Red Planet. The

rover faces the desolate Atacama Desert in northern Chile, one of the closest terrestrial matches for Mars.

Among the driest places on Earth, it lacks any vegetation and its red–brown soil and rocks make it look even

more like Mars.

The aim is to build up experience in operating rovers on a planet, which requires a very different way of

working from a satellite mission. For added pressure on the rover’s remote overseers – based at the Satellite

Applications Catapult facility in Harwell, UK, next to ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and

Telecommunications – each day of the five-day test will be treated as equivalent to two Mars days, or ‘sols’.

For each sol they will first downlink data then prepare a set of commands for the next sol that the rover will

then carry out on its own.

The trial is intended to develop technologies and expertise for future Mars missions in general, but for added

realism it is using ESA’s 2018 ExoMars rover as its ‘reference mission’. An early prototype of the six-wheeled

ExoMars rover will be put through its paces, fitted with prototypes of three of its scientific instruments: a

panoramic camera for stereo 3D imaging, a ground-penetrating radar to probe subsurface geology, and a close-

up imager for studying subsurface samples to a resolution of a thousandth of a millimetre.

These three instruments will work together to select a sample site with outcrops of bedrock beside looser

material. A human-operated hand drill will gather underground samples for the rover to examine – although this

human intervention will remain invisible to the remote operators. “This field trial is about optimising the use of

typical instruments and equipment aboard a Mars rover and generating a set of commands for the rover to

execute the following day,” explains Michel van Winnendael, overseeing the Sample Acquisition Field

Experiment with a Rover, or SAFER, project for ESA.

“Unlike satellites, planetary rovers operate in close interaction with the topography and physical properties of

the planetary surface. This implies limited data return from the rover during relatively short communication

windows, with an inherent time delay.”

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Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist, adds, “For the first time with SAFER we will attempt to integrate data

from surface and subsurface instruments to explore how to transition from topsoil to underground operations.

Since drilling plays an important role in the ExoMars rover’s search-for-life strategy, this is an important step.

On Mars the best chances of accessing well-preserved molecular biosignatures deposited during the planet’s

early, water-rich history lie in the subsurface, at depths below 1 m, where the topsoil provides shielding from

cosmic radiation damage.”

The precise test location will be chosen on Sunday 6 October, based on information from local reconnaissance

trips made this week by part of the team. Images of the site taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle to simulate

the overview from a Mars orbiter will be sent to the remote operators.

“Since this is a rehearsal of a planetary exploration scenario there is an inevitable degree of uncertainty in the

sequence of events,” adds Michel. “Nature is very inventive in presenting situations which were not fully

anticipated by those who conceived the mission. That’s why we find it important to do field tests in a fairly

representative environment.”

The industrial team performing the testing for ESA is led by the UK Science & Technology Facilities Council’s

RAL Space at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, with subcontractors including Astrium, Aberystwyth

University, Joanneum Research in Austria, Space Exploration Institute in Switzerland and SCISYS, with

additional support from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of University College London, the University of

Leicester and the LATMOS research lab of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France.

The SAFER team in Chile will be accommodated beside the Very Large Telescope on nearby Mount Paranal, as

guests of the European Southern Observatory.

To follow SAFER’s daily progress, visit the team blog at http://safertrial.wordpress.com .

Source: ESA Return to Contents

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The Night Sky

Friday, October 4

As the stars begin to come out in twilight, Cassiopeia

is already higher now in the northeast than the sinking

Big Dipper is in the northwest. Cassiopeia's broad W

pattern tilts up during the evening to stand on end.

New Moon (exact at 8:35 p.m. EDT).

Saturday, October 5

If you stay up past midnight this weekend, look east-

northeast to catch bright Jupiter on the rise. Castor and

Pollux are to its left. Much farther to its right, wintry

Orion is coming up too.

Sunday, October 6

Jupiter is at western quadrature this week, 90° west of

the Sun in the morning sky. This is when, in a telescope,

the western edge of Jupiter is most clearly dimmer than

its eastern, more sunward-facing edge.

Monday, October 7

During twilight, the waxing crescent Moon shines to

the right of Venus. Well to the Moon's lower right, while

twilight is still fairly bright, binoculars show Saturn

above Mercury.

Sky & Telescope Return to Contents

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ISS Sighting Opportunities

No information available due to federal government shutdown

For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Daylight Time)

NASA TV not available due to federal government shutdown

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to the NASA website. Return to Contents

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Space Calendar

Oct 04 - [Oct 02] Comet P/2013 R3 (Catalina-PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.234 AU)

Oct 04 - Asteroid 9766 Bradbury Closest Approach To Earth (1.484 AU)

Oct 04 - Asteroid 4559 Strauss Closest Approach To Earth (1.747 AU)

Oct 04-10 - [Oct 03] World Space Week

Oct 05 - Comet 257P/Catalina At Opposition (1.335 AU)

Oct 05 - Comet C/2013 E2 (Iwamoto) At Opposition (2.086 AU)

Oct 05 - Comet 105P/Singer Brewster At Opposition (2.986 AU)

Oct 05 - [Oct 02] Asteroid 2013 SU24 Near-Earth Flyby (0.013 AU)

Oct 05 - [Oct 01] Asteroid 2013 SD21 Near-Earth Flyby (0.033 AU)

Oct 05 - Asteroid 128 Nemesis Closest Approach To Earth (1.419 AU)

Oct 06 - [Oct 03] Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), Lunar Orbit

Insertion Maneuver 1 (LOI-1)

Oct 06 - Asteroid 2 Pallas Occults TYC 5436-00385-1 (9.7 Magnitude Star)

Oct 06 - 5th Anniversary (2008), MESSENGER, 2nd Mercury Flyby

Oct 07 - Comet 268P/Bernardi At Opposition (3.388 AU)

Oct 07 - [Oct 01] Asteroid 2013 SC21 Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)

Oct 07 - Asteroid 350751 (2002 AW) Near-Earth Flyby (0.062 AU)

Oct 07 - Kuiper Belt Object 303775 (2005 QU182) At Opposition (49.284 AU)

Artist’s impression of MESSENGER flying over a colorful Mercury

Source: JPL Space Calendar

Return to Contents

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Food for Thought

Help Schoolkids in Africa Participate in November 2013 Eclipse

Astronomers Without Borders – those great folks who do science outreach around the world – is getting ready

for the next solar eclipse, which takes place on November 3, 2013. A partial eclipse will be visible across a

wide swath of Africa and AWB needs your help so that tens of thousands of eclipse glasses can be sent to

schools in Africa in time for the eclipse.

“We’re working with the IAU’s Office of Astronomy for Development who has contacts working with schools

and able to distribute the glasses to them,” Mike Simmons, who leads AWB, told Universe Today via email.

“The opportunity for this came up late so we’re working very hard to make it happen in the short time we have

left.”

Simmons added that this is a rare opportunity to expose students to science in a region where science resources

are often non-existent, and AWB will be giving the glasses to schools at no charge.

But they need donations to make that happen. Click here to find out how to help.

Source: Universe Today Return to Contents

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Space Image of the Week

Northern Lights from Pawnee Grasslands, Colorado

Explanation: The aurora borealis put in an appearance in the sky over northern Colorado Tuesday night and

Wednesday morning, October 1-2, 2013. The photo was collected at the windfarm near the Pawnee Buttes area.

Image Credit: Ryan Shepard

Source: Ryan Shepard Photography Return to Contents