ISS And Mars

In a recent speech, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden argued his agency is on its way to a manned mission to Mars, and that ISS is a crucial tool to help us get there. He said ISS will be the test bed for technologies and techniques necessary for a Mars flight. Space advocates have argued for years the primary role of ISS should be precisely that. Given the budget problems of the U. S. Government far into the future, however, saying NASA is headed to Mars is a tough sell. True, President Obama has said he expects to see humans going to Mars in the 2030s, but presidential expectations do not constitute policy. The Obama policy that, the President maintains, will lead to Mars is being debated in Congress, and the outcome of that debate is still unclear.

Asteroid 2005 YU55

This coming November 8, Asteroid 2005 YU55 will whip past Earth just inside the orbit of the Moon. In cosmic terms, that's a very near miss. While there is little to no chance of a collision this year, 2005 YU55 is one of the asteroids astronomers are watching closely; at some point down the road, it could pose a threat to Earth. It is big enough to do extraordinary damage if it hit us. Massive enough to have pulled itself into a sphere, 2005 YU55 is 1,300 feet across. While not a civilization killer, a body that size could wreak havoc on a regional scale. Astronomers are planning to use the November approach to study the asteroid in unprecedented depth and detail, employing some of the most advanced astronomical tools on the planet in an attempt to thoroughly understand a body humanity might have to deflect away from Earth someday.

Falcon 9 Heavy

With two successful launches of its Falcon 9 rocket under its corporate belt, SpaceX is now developing the Falcon 9 Heavy-- essentially a Falcon 9 with strap-on boosters. SpaceX says Heavy would be about half as powerful as the legendary Saturn V. Heavy would thus be able to propel private missions to the Moon, for example, though a mission might require more than one launch and assembly of the lunar ship in Earth orbit. A private lunar base isn't just a theoretical possibility, either. Bigelow Aerospace, for example, is looking at establishing just such a base using its inflatable module technology. BA's base would be designed to support tourism, scientific research, and commercial enterprises. SpaceX says the Falcon 9 Heavy could be ready by 2013. The company is also looking at a super heavy configuration which would be 50 percent more powerful than the Saturn. Such a rocket would not only be able to launch Moon missions, but Mars missions, as well.

Space Debris Threat

In 2007, China destroyed one of its own satellites in a demonstration of its anti-satellite capability. Today, the crew of ISS is having to take shelter in the docked Soyuz capsule while a piece of that destroyed satellite comes perilously close to ISS. In 2009, a Russian COSMOS satellite and a commercial Iridium satellite collided. Last Friday, given more warning time, ISS was moved out of the way of a piece of COSMOS-Iridium debris. The two incidents emphasize the threat space debris poses to the continued use of low-Earth orbit. Hopefully, a manned spacecraft will not have to be destroyed before a robust plan to deal with space debris is put into action.

Asteroids And ETs

A new search strategy for finding extraterrestrial civilizations that have spread into space involves studying the asteroid populations around other stars. The premise is that as a civilization enters space it will use asteroids as a physical resource, and we might be able to detect a difference between a natural asteroid population and one that is being exploited for industrial use. For example, a lack of industrial metals in asteroids could suggest mining. Similarly, scarcity of large asteroids could imply a civilization found it more economical to mine and disassemble large bodies, thus leaving only smaller asteroids. Unusual heat in an asteroid belt could also mean industrial activity. None of those would be proof of ET, but-- especially if all three are found in the same solar system-- such indications could be flags telling us to look closer.

Space Debris Radar For Europe

The European Space Agency is developing plans for its own radar system to track space debris in low Earth orbit. As ESA looks to operating more spacecraft, it sees the need to be able to track potentially dangerous objects in orbit. The system is to be deployed between 2012 and 2018. Currently, Europe depends on the U. S. tracking system, but with the space debris problem becoming more serious, having a second system monitoring it is probably a good idea. Already, ISS has to dodge debris four or five times a year.

Ring Ripples

Two new studies indicate certain ripples in the ring systems of Jupiter and Saturn can be traced to debris associated with comets that struck the rings. The ripples studied in Jupiter's dark, sparse rings, for example, could be traced back to the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 debris cloud. Scientists think studying such ripples can give them a better idea of the number of comets in the Solar System, as well as a better understanding of exactly how dynamic an area the outer Solar System is.