Kentucky Space

Plume diving on Enceladus

A spectacular raw image from the November 21 Cassini flyby of Enceladus clearly shows the venting happening from the Saturn moon.

Wayne

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Titan haze

Described as an organic chemical factory, Titan has become less mysterious over the last few years thanks to Cassini, but many more mysteries remain.

This image, a combination of images taken with red, green and blue filters, was acquired on Oct. 12 and clearly shows the moon's atmosphere.

Wayne

New Mercury image

MESSENGER acquired this image of Mercury 78 minutes prior to closest approach, capturing the stark division between the sun-facing and the dark side of the planet referred to as the "terminator."

Wayne

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Images being posted from MESSENGER'S third Mercury flyby

Swooping by at an altitude of just 141.7 miles, images from MESSENGER'S third flyby of Mercury this week are now being posted. The surface in the lower right corner of this image is near Mercury's terminator, the line between the day and night side of the planet.

The craft will settle into orbit around Mercury beginning on March 18, 2011.

Wayne

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Video: Triton flyby

The video below is a simulated fly-by of Neptune's moon Triton produced from imagery returned by Voyager 2 just over 20 years ago. Believed to be a Kuiper Belt object, high internal heat is believed to be responsible for the moon's young surface. New Horizons detected Triton last October from a much greater distance.

Wayne

Kentucky Space, Neptune, New Horizons, Robotics, Triton

Slow and steady to 200,000 mph

Paul Gilster's post today on new developments in Ion propulsion pairs nicely with an update from the Project System Engineer for Dawn on that ion-powered spacecraft's journey to Ceres and Vesta. Compared to the Space Shuttle's orbital speed of 18,000 mph, modern ion propulsion can reach 200,000 mph.

Wayne

Credit for artist's image of Dawn at Ceres: NASA/JPL

"Anyone get the number of that truck"? Jupiter scarred by impact

Though speculated to be a small comet, an unknown object has left a huge mark at the southern pole of Jupiter, according to this New York Times report, leaving astronomers scrambling to get time on telescopes to study the evidence left behind. Estimates put the impact zone - the white spot at the bottom of this infrared image - at about the size of the Pacific Ocean.

Wayne

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Infrared Telescope Facility

Orion capsule in the Atlantic

Via the Space Fellowship, this picture of a 18,000 pound mock-up of the Orion crew capsule floating in the Atlantic.

Wayne

Credit: NASA

Celebrating Galileo: Most beautiful pics of Saturn ever

The imaging team for the Cassini mission, CIClOPS, has unpacked some of the best images ever taken of Saturn and its moons in celebration of The International Year of Astronomy. Simply beautiful.

Wayne

Nanosail-D could sail yet

Given my long term exposure to the talented engineers at Kentucky Space who demand that a flight-worthy KySat-1 be built from an exacting engineering model, I shouldn't be too surprised that a duplicate of the very innovative and terribly unlucky Nanonsail-D is still available for launch. The trick, as with all potential space technologies, is finding a ride.

In a post yesterday, Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams describes a new effort cosponsored by The Planetary Society and Russian Space Research to get the 3U solar-sail cube, or another, similar, craft into space now that NASA has orphaned its sail technology program.

Planetary Society:

We are now looking into the possibility of upgrading the nanosail and turning it into a true solar sail spacecraft. This will require that it be maneuverable and controllable from Earth, and that its radio system and instrumentation will be able to verify its operation. Nanosail-D had none of these features, but we are now talking to the spacecraft developers about ways to augment original design.

Wayne

Credit: NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham