A little space blogging today…

NASA CHIEF TO RESIGN

Rand Simberg reports that NASA chief Sean O’Keefe will resign today or tomorrow to take a job in academia.

O’Keefe has had a tumultuous three years, most notably, the Columbia tragedy and a snafu regarding a repair mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. He did recently have some success as NASA’s budget has increased to include some ambitious exploration initiatives. He also seemed to have a vision of where he wanted to take the agency, including assisting the nascent commercial space industry.


T.L. James reports on a possible replacement:

“Leading the president’s list: Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, who retired in September after three years as the director of the United States’ effort to develop a system to shield the country and its troops from a missile attack.” (Courtesy Space.Com).

I’m a little uncomfortable with this selection; not because Kadish headed up SDI but because there’s always been an arms length relationship between the military and NASA. When Eisenhower first proposed an all civilian space agency in 1959, little did he realize that such a move would open the door to a fantastic partnership between industry and government. Many of the technological advances we take for granted today are either directly the result of or given a boost by the space program. It’s hard to imagine these advances taking place if NASA had been placed under military control.

COMET MACCHOLZ ARRIVES: END OF THE WORLD NIGH?

Jay Manifold has some extremely helpful hints on where and when to see Comet Maccholz.

While technically a naked eye object, you’ll need to be well away from city lights in order to view it. Try using a low powered telescope or even a good pair of binoculars (preferably mounted) in order to bag it.

Comets, of course, were once thought of as harbringers of disaster. I’m off to Reno on Thursday…I hope the comet’s arrival doesn’t herald bad luck at the tables! If so, maybe I could make some sort of a sacrifice to appease the angry gods (any volunteers?)

FORECAST: SHOWER LIKELY

I spent much of last night shivering in the dark watching the Geminid meteor shower.

“If you were disappointed with the meager showing put on by this yearÂ’s Leonid meteor shower, donÂ’t fret. What could be the best meteor display of the year is scheduled to reach its peak on Monday night, Dec. 13.”

I was seeing a “shooting star” about once every 3 or 4 minutes or about 20 an hour. Conditions last night were perfect (sky wise…truth be told, I froze my tuckus off). Tonight’s display will be even more spectacular:

“Skywatchers with dark skies away from city lights could see one or two meteors every minute during the Geminid meteor shower. The greatest activity is expected to be visible from North America, Europe and Africa.”

The meteors vary greatly with some streaking across the sky in a blaze of light while others appear for only an instant.

“Generally speaking, depending on your location, Gemini begins to come up above the east-northeast horizon right around the time evening twilight is coming to an end. So you might catch sight of a few early Geminids as soon as the sky gets dark. There is a fair chance of perhaps catching sight of some “Earth-grazing” meteors.”

Best views come between 10:00pm and 4:00am. As with the comet, best to get away from light pollution caused by city and suburban lights.

PROMETHEUS UNBOUND

NASA is reviewing a list of fission-powered missions that could pre-empt the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) effort now being eyed for space travel no sooner than 2015.

JIMO has been touted as the flagship mission for Project Prometheus. JIMO would be the space agency’s first mission using nuclear electric propulsion. In September, NASA selected Northrop Grumman Space Technology as the contractor for the proposed Prometheus JIMO spacecraft.

The advantage of having a nuclear fission reactor powering a spacecraft would be in both propulsion and powering the instrument package onboard the ship. Currently on long-duration missions, a tiny radioisotope package turns heat into energy which powers the instruments on board. The system has been used for more than 25 years and is safe and reliable. The problem is in the amount of energy available. Scientists and engineers currently have to “dumb down” instruments and experiments in order to meet power requirements.

With a nuclear fission reactor, onboard instrumentation could be up to 10 times more sensitive as power generation wouldn’t be a problem. In addition, it may be possible to create some kind of ion powered engine that, once clear of earth’s gravity and on its way, the spacecraft could use for propulsion.

DEFINITELY THE “RIGHT STUFF”

Hearing that astronaut John Young is retiring from NASA brought on a wave of nostalgia:

“The Orlando native first flew to space in 1965 on a Gemini mission with the late Gus Grissom. In 1972, he walked on the moon in the next-to-last Apollo flight. Almost a decade later, Young and pilot Bob Crippen took Columbia on its maiden voyage.”

I was living in Washington, D.C. at time of the first shuttle launch. What a radical notion that was! A reusable spacecraft that would take off like a rocket and land like an airplane. Watching the launch on TV required that I take an early lunch. I can remember sitting in a bar watching along with about 100 others screaming “GO GO GO” at the top of my lungs along with everyone else as the shuttle rose majestically from the launch pad.

Of course, the shuttle never lived up to its billing as a “space truck.” And perhaps the program will be looked back on as a failure in that expectations given by NASA to get funding for the program in the 1970’s never came close to being realized.

None of this was John Young’s fault. He performed with tremendous courage and good humor on all of his flights. He truly had that indefinable “right stuff.”