Mercury – Australian Science

Weekly Science Picks

Sharon — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 07:43:02 +0000

A happy Science Sunday to everyone! As usual there’s been a lot happening in the world of science, so lets take a peek of the most interesting picks for the past week!

Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) to launch!

At the end of this month, NASA will launch IRIS. IRIS will watch the Sun and provide NASA with information on the Sun’s atmosphere and the interface region. This will give scientists a better understanding of how the Sun’s energy powers the solar wind!

NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to explore Mercury

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Italian Space Agency (ASI) President Enrico Saggese signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the European Space Agency (ESA) led BepiColombo mission to Mercury

Earth’s plant life shown in Hi Res imaging

NASA’s Suomi NPP Satellite shows Earth’s vegetation mapped at a higher resolution than ever before.

Human Brain Mapped in 3D!

A new three-dimensional map, aptly called BigBrain is the most detailed ever constructed! Scientists hope it will lead to a more accurate picture of how the brain’s different regions function.

Can high energy y-ray astronomy be done from Earth?

Traditionally astronomers have relied on space telescopes to conduct high-energy y ray astronomy because Earth’s atmosphere is a very efficient shield for y rays. However, in early July at the International Cosmic Ray Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, indicate that γ-ray astronomers are betting their future on an ambitious ground-based telescope.

What drives mammals to extinction?

Australian researchers say that it’s not bad luck that drives mammals to extinction over geological time, but their failure to keep pace with a deteriorating environment.

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Come on in, the Water is…Frozen

Kelly Burnes — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:57:00 +0000

MESSENGER detected the presence of polar ice on Mercury. The spots shown in yellow are craters containing ice. Source: Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory

Water – the source of all life. It’s been found on what we have believed for many moons to be that little hot-tempered planet named Mercury. It seems the celestial body has a shady side, a split personality perhaps; one side ferociously hot, while its polar opposite features some craters of ice. NASA scientists have unequivocally confirmed the presence of water on the planet. Ready for a swim? Ice-skating may be more appropriate.

The Finding

Rarely does consensus on discoveries such as this occur. Three methods, neutron spectrometry, near-infrared reflectance and thermal models from MESSENGER, were used to conclude and confirm the presence of water and organic material on Mercury.

The duality of Mercury is somewhat perplexing; can you imagine living on a planet with a temperature range between -223C and 427C? It is in these shaded, cold regions, those that never see the sun, where the ice lies bare and exposed. However, data from MESSENGER also show that frozen water is found in slightly warmer areas. It lies buried beneath a dark material, an insulator of some sort covering it, and there’s a lot of it. Estimates put the amount of water ice on Mercury between 100 billion and 1 trillion metric tons. That’s enough water to cover an area the size of Washington, D.C., 3.2 kilometers deep.

Where Did the Water Come From?

Much the way Earth came to have water and organic material, it is thought that comet impacts and asteroid strikes created the same organic building blocks of life on Mercury. At last Thursday’s news conference, researchers were bouncing around all sorts of hypotheses on what this discovery could mean for life in other parts of our solar system. Messenger principal investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory said “there’s a lot of water out there, as there is a lot of water around other stars, but at substantial distance. “The solar system is “a soggy place ” according to Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. Green went on to explain his enthusiasm with that statement, indicating “it really bodes well for us to continue on the exploration, following the water and its signs throughout the solar system.” How water was brought to Earth and Mercury, were probably brought to other planets.

With any good find, come more questions…

These observations, while extraordinary, can only heighten our curiosity about Mercury and the rest of the galaxy. Is the dark material in the polar craters on Mercury mainly organic compounds? If so, what sorts of chemical reactions has that organic material undergone? Is this the same material that gave rise to life on our planet? Are there regions on Mercury that have both liquid water and organic compounds? Only by continued exploration of space can we hope to find answers to these questions.

Life as we know it, will probably not be found on Mercury given its ultra-thin atmosphere and proximity to the sun. The discovery of water ice and dark organic material can still inform the hunt for organisms beyond Earth and help scientists piece together the puzzle of how life began on our planet. We still do not fully understand the beginnings of life and the chemical reactions associated with those beginnings on our own planet.

Last week’s discovery of water and organic material on Mercury will indicate we have a lot to learn. Hopefully, it opens up vast areas of research that radiate outward, showing the connections of our segmented universe. How we see view and study other planets has great value for how we analyze and safeguard ours. For instance, what are the implications for planetary warming (climate change)? What can the ice trapped beneath the organic carbon material tell us? The thermostat of astrobiology has just been ratcheted up a notch.

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The astronauts who put the USA on the moon

Kevin Orrman-Rossiter — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:19:52 +0000

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. This surprise precipitated the space age and triggered the space race. The success ushered in new technological, political, military, and scientific developments.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in history to leave the Earth’s atmosphere and venture into space. His flight aboard a Soviet Vostok rocket lasted 108 minutes, at the end of it he had ignited the manned space race.

Who were men who responded to these Soviet firsts, launching America into space and then onto the moon?

NASA selected the first US astronauts, the Original Seven (also referred to as the Mercury Seven and Astronaut Group 1), on April 9, 1959. This was the only astronaut group with members who flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century — Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle.

The Mercury Seven stand in front of a F-106 Delta Dart. Photo credit NASA.

The original seven were Alan B Shepard Jr, Virgil I “Gus” Grissom, John Herschel Glenn Jr, M Scott Carpenter, Walter M “Wally” Schirra, Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr, and Donald K “Deke” Slayton.

The first American launched into space was Alan Shepard, followed by Gus Grissom. Their ballistic flights were followed by orbital flights by John Glenn then Scott Carpenter, each managing three orbits. Wally Schirra made six orbits and Gordon Cooper completed the Mercury project with 22 orbits. Cooper was the first American travelling in space for over a day and the last American to be launched solo into Earth orbit. Deke Slayton, was grounded in 1962 due to a heart arrhythmia, but reinstated in 1972 and flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

The New Nine. Back row: See, McDivitt, Lovell, White, & Stafford. Front row: Conrad, Borman, Armstrong, & Young. Photo credit NASA.

With the announcement of the Gemini program and planning of the Apollo program a second group of astronauts were selected by NASA and announced on September 17, 1962. The New Nine augmented the original Mercury 7. While the original seven had been selected to accomplish the simpler task of orbital flight, the new challenges of rendezvous and lunar landing led to the selection of candidates with advanced engineering degrees (for four of the New Nine) as well as test pilot experience.

This illustrious group became the first group with civilian test pilots in the group; Neil A Armstrong, first man on the moon and Elliott M See Jr, killed in a plane crash four months before he was due to pilot Gemini 9. Two of this group, Charles Conrad Jr and James A Lovell Jr, had been candidates for the original seven, but were not selected then for medical reasons. In addition, the group was Frank F Borman Jr, James A McDivitt, Thomas P Stafford, Edward H White II, and John W Young.

NASA announced the third group of astronauts, the “Apollo fourteen” in October 1963. Four (Charles A Bassett II, Roger B Chaffee, Theodore C Freeman, and Clifton C Williams Jr) died in training accidents before they could fly in space. Chaffee was killed along with Grissom and White in the Apollo 1 fire. All of the surviving ten (Edwin E “Buzz” Aldrin Jr, William A Anders, Alan A Bean, Eugene A Cernan, Michael Collins, R Walter Cunningham, Donn F Eisele, Richard F Gordon Jr, Russell “Rusty” L Schwiekart, and David R Scott) flew in the Apollo program; five (Aldrin, Cernan, Collins, Gordon, and Scott) also flew Gemini missions. Aldrin, Bean, Cernan and Scott walked on the Moon.

The Fourteen (seated, left to right) Aldrin, Anders, Bassett, Bean, Cernan, and Chaffee. Standing (left to right) are Collins, Cunninham, Eisele, Freeman, Gordon, Schweickart, Scott and Williams. Photo credit NASA.

Group 3 was the first group to include candidates with no test pilot background. They are the only ones of the first 19 NASA astronaut groups to have no members at all fly on the Space Shuttle.

The fourth group of astronauts, the Scientists, selected by NASA in June 1965, came as a rude shock to the existing astronauts. While the astronauts of the previous three groups were required to have college and some advanced degrees, they were chosen for their test pilot expertise. The six members of this group, on the other hand, were chosen for their research and academic backgrounds. Doctorate degrees were required and minimum flight time requirements were waived for this group.

Scientist-Astronauts: Front row, L-R: Michel, Schmitt, and Kerwin. Back row, L-R: Garriot, and Gibson. Photo credit NASA.

This group included the science poster boy, Harrison H Schmitt, a geologist, the only scientist to walk on the Moon. Owen K Garriott, Edward G Gibson and Joseph P Kerwin all flew to Skylab. Garriott also flew on the Space Shuttle. While Duane E Graveline and F Curtis Michel left NASA without flying in space.

John Young labelled the next astronaut group, selected by NASA in April 1966, the “Original Nineteen” in parody of the original seven Mercury astronauts. Of the six Lunar Module Pilots that walked on the Moon, three came from this group (Charles M Duke Jr, James B Irwin, and Edward D Mitchell). This group is also distinctive in being the only time when NASA hired a person into the astronaut corps who had already earned astronaut wings, X-15 pilot Joseph “Joe” H Engle.

The Original Nineteen. Photo credit NASA.

The group as a whole is roughly split between the half who flew Apollo (Duke, Ronald E Evans Jr, Fred W Haise Jr, Irwin, T Kenneth Mattingly II, Mitchell, Stuart A Roosa, John Swigert Jr, and Alfred M Worden) and the other half who flew Skylab and Shuttle (Vance D Brand, Gerald P Carr, Engle, Don L Lind, Jack R Lousma, Bruce McCandless II, William R Pogue, and Paul J Weitz) providing the core of Shuttle Commanders early in that program. John S Bull resigned from the program for medical reasons, whilst Edward G Givens Jr died in a car crash after being support crew for Apollo 7.

The final group of this era, the second group of scientist-astronauts, were appointed by NASA on August 11, 1967. They were labelled the “excess Eleven” with only five, including the first Australian born astronaut Philip Chapman, given formal assignments in the Apollo Program, and these were all non-flying. These were: Joseph P Allen, Chapman, Anthony W England, Karl G Henize, and Robert A R Parker. Chapman resigned from NASA in July 1972 due to lack of space-flight opportunities. Three others, Donald L Holmquest, Anthony A Llewellyn, and Brian T O’Leary resigned earlier from the group for various reasons.

The Excess Eleven civilian scientists. Seated at the table, L to R: Chapman, Parker, Thornton, and Llewellyn. Standing, L to R: Allen, Henize, England, Holmquest, Musgrave, Lenoir, and O'Leary. Photo credit NASA.

Assignments for the group were delayed by the requirement to spend a full year to become qualified as jet pilots (as were the Group 4 scientists before them). This requirement for scientists to be trained as jet pilots was eventually lifted with the creation of the Mission Specialist position in the Shuttle Program. The seven members (Allan, England, Henize, William “Bill” Lenoir, Story Musgrave, Parker, and William E Thornton) of Group 6 who stayed with the program after Apollo went on to form the core of Shuttle Mission Specialists, accomplishing a total of 15 flights.

This chart organizes each NASA astronaut group by order of their assignment to fly. Codes as explained in the legend illustrate each person's skills and accomplishments. Image credit: Tdadamemd

In all 66 men became NASA astronauts during this first era of manned space exploration. No women were included – although there was an unofficial group called the First Lady Astronaut Trainees– not being jet test pilots there were ineligible to become astronauts.

Was this a “boys’ own adventure”? Was this a period of great social upheaval in the USA? Did this era cement in the US politicians and public the image of supremacy and isolationism in space endeavors? Yes, is the answer to all three questions.

There are a myriad of stories from these groups’ exploits. These stories have a contemporary relevance as we reach an era of: new commercial space opportunities (leisure, exploration and mining), new entrants (China and India), and find the US and Europe hampered by self-imposed budget challenges and hurdles.

Cite this article:
Orrman-Rossiter K (2012-10-31 00:19:52). The astronauts who put the USA on the moon. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 03, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/history/the-astronauts-who-put-the-usa-on-the-moon/

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