LCROSS Impacts the Moon Today

The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is hoping to find if there is ice at the poles of the Moon. To do this, the Centaur upperstage of its Atlas V launch vehicle will be impacted into a crater to throw up a debris plume which will be evaluated by the LCROSS spacecraft when it flies through it four minutes later before impacting the Moon itself throwing up a second plume. The NASA feed is here and the SLOOH Space Camera feed is here.

Astrobiology Rap

A rap video by Jon Chase about astrobiology - The search for life in space, particularly on other worlds called exoplanets. You can see Jon at "Life the Universe and... Physics" in Brick Lane on the evening of Monday 19 October. It's free!

Kingston alum talks at BIS - Wednesday 7 October

On Wednesday 7 October, Kingston space alumnus and lecturer Dave Wade will be talking at the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) in Vauxhall (just 25 mins by train from Kingston). Dave now works in the City of London for the Atrium Space Insurance Consortium and, with David Todd of Ascend Worldwide Ltd, will be talking about the space insurance market, the hidden hazards for space insurers, what insurance cover space insurers provide and they assess the risks associated with satellites and launch vehicles. The talk starts at 7.00 pm.

If you are not a BIS member, then the ticket will be £5 - you can book here.

Alternatively, why not join the BIS (I joined in my first year at university and have been a member ever since). If you are a student, the membership is £18 per year. Join here!

SGAC releases Youth Space Vison for the Next Decade

In light of its ten year anniversary, SGAC has produced "The Youth Space Vision for the Next Decade: Looking Back to Look Forward" report. This document is a youth vision of the political development of the "spacescape" in the next decade. This vision includes a description of the roles the youth and the Space Generation Advisory Council would like to play. Ideas were developed from the Space Generation Advisory Council's Ten Year Anniversary Conference that reviewed the past ten years and assessed the coming decade.

Space Propulsion Talk at KGS

As part of World Space Week I'll be giving a talk called ‘The Only Way is Up! – Space Propulsion Systems Past, Present and Future' at Kingston Grammar School at 7.30 pm on Monday 5 October. The talk will describe the history of space travel, both in fantasy and in fact, and explain the basics of rocket propulsion before exploring current and proposed forms of rocket, e.g. chemical, electric and nuclear, as well ideas for space propulsion that do not use rockets (e.g. solar sails and tethers). The talk is to help the school raise money for its science labs.

Tickets are £8 adults and £4 concessions and are available from Debbie Heaney at the School - dheaney@kgs.org.uk

UKEDS Conference 2009

It's the start of another academic year, so the 2009 UKSEDS conference can't be far off. This year it is going to take place at the University of Surrey in Guildford, which means that it will be easy to get to. I heard yesterday that it has been decided that this year the conference will be one day instead of the usual two days and that it will take place on Saturday 7 November. The conference website has all the relevant information, so check it out.

Ulysses - Hail and Fairwell

Yesterday (June 30), the Ulysses mission finally ended today when ground controllers sent commands to shut down the spacecraft's communications. The event marks the conclusion of one of the longest and most successful space missions ever conducted (and also the very first mission that your author ever worked on, back in 1983 when it was known as the International Solar Polar Mission).

From launch in 1990 the 18-year, 8-month mission has returned a wealth of scientific data on the space environment above and below the poles of the Sun (each orbit taking aound six years). The spacecraft and its suite of nine instruments had to be highly sensitive yet robust enough to withstand some of the most extreme conditions in the Solar System, including a close fly-by of the giant planet Jupiter.

The end of the mission had been predicted for July 2008, at which time the satellite's depleted radioisotope power supply was expected to fall below the minimum required to keep fuel lines from freezing. However, mission controllers determined they could keep this from happening by firing the thrusters briefly every few hours. The final decision to end the mission was taken because the unavailability of ground station time to communicate with Ulysses in the future.