The Sun is getting active. Click for larger. Credit: SDO/NASA

The Sun is getting more and more active as time goes by.  Currently we have a Coronal Mass Ejection heading at us.  The CME is part of a series of events on the sun being called a global magnetic disturbance because it involves the whole Earth facing hemisphere.  Discovery has a nice article/video(s) and the SDO site has video’s you should check out.

Is something bad going to come of this?  Probably not and it’s not like it hasn’t happened before.  Our detection and observations are vastly improved over what they were just a few years ago.  Communications satellites can be configured to lessen any damage.  The power grid could be affected, but I’m not sure that this is a big problem with this particular event.  We could be treated to some nice auroral activity though – YAY!

It is not without any consequence though; you may have heard there was a problem when s spike in electrical current tripped a circuit breaker shutting down half of the cooling system on the ISS.  Efforts to reset the breaker and get the coolant pump going again were unsuccessful.  The station stable the affected areas are either running on redundant systems or being powered via jumper cables for now (insert you might be a redneck joke here).  It’s going to take a spacewalk to two to see if they can fix the problem.  Sounds like the spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday and the problems from the CME should be over by then.  Being caught outside during a CME probably would not be a very good thing.  Read more about the cooling failure at NASA.

As we all know it won’t be too much longer and the shuttle will be no more.  How are they going to get a new 780 lb pump up there if they need it?  They won’t.

So keep an eye to the sky tonight for possible northern or southern lights and don’t forget the good vibes for Marian.  I think she needs them.

Progress resupply ship (NOT the errant one). Credit: NASA

The automated resupply ship, Progress 38, has lost telemetry and has flown past the International Space Station. Reports are sketchy, some reports have the Progress spinning out of control. I don’t know about that and I’ll stick to what NASA is saying as of 15:14 ET:

Friday’s docking for the ISS Progress 38 has been aborted due to a loss of telemetry. Flight controllers have reported the resupply craft flew past the International Space Station. The flight control team is in the early stages of diagnosing what may have caused the aborted docking with the space station, but have decided not to re-attempt docking Friday. As the Progress 38 continues its separation from the space station, the Russian and American teams are discussing their options for a future docking attempt and reconfiguring the station for standard operations. The six Expedition 24 crew members are continuing with normal station activities.

I’m watching NASA TV and they are apparently replaying coverage from before the problem started. I did hear the Progress lost telemetry a bit less than a half before the schedule 11:58 am ET docking and flew past the station at a safe distance. The main thing is nobody is (or was) in any danger.

If by chance NASA TV has anything new in the next hour or two, I will let you know.

I’ve been watching a developing story for the ISS/STS-128 mission.  There is a piece of space junk that was some cause for concern involving having to boost the ISS/STS-128 to a higher orbit to avoid a collision.  The current thinking is, the debis is NOT going to cause a problem.

The space junk is a fairly large piece, fairly large?  How about 19 square meters, yeah I’d say that was fairly large alright.  The piece is said to be oval, but for scale if it was a square…let’s see taking meters to feet,  oh about 14 feet on a side unless my math is wrong (not that it would surprise me).  It also appears the debris is an “adaptor ring” and not a sheet, don’t matter lots of damage could be caused if it hits.

Where did the junk come from?  The junk in question is a piece from an Ariane 5 rocket carrying a payload for ESA and launched in, 2006 from the Kourou facility in French Guiana.

I have heard the junk was going to at it’s closest at 10:06 and 11:06 ET on Friday (September 4, 2009), which one is correct I don’t know, but I do know I am going to try my hardest to be watching NASA TV at both of those times, something of that size should be easy to spot from an ISS camera.  The distance was to be within 3 km, now that was before the decision was made not to do any avoidance so perhaps that’s changed or the experts are pretty sure of the distances involved.

I am now hearing 11:06 ET again, but don’t bet the farm on it.  I am hoping for some video!!

The debris is one of around 19,000 pieces of junk floating around up there  is being monitored.  Sure it’s a big place, it’s also getting smaller all the time and perhaps the time has come to think about designing new craft, satellites mostly, to either not create undo debris going up or in the event they don’t work, to cause them to come back down.  I know, easier said than done – so is getting something up there in the first place.

The ISS from the Endeavour yesterday after undocking. Credit: NASA TV

The shuttle has undocked from the International Space Station.  Where did the time go?  The “goings on” around here has kept me on edge and the past couple of weeks have just evaporated.  Lots of bad stuff, the passing of my beloved Phoenix, mechanical troubles at work, including a fire have cast a dark shadow.  There are some very good things going on too, I’m not going to divulge what they are just now.  Oh you can be sure I will, if things work out there will be some very big news coming out after a bit.  I will be doing a lot of running around, this time hopefully for a good ending.

You might have noticed in the sidebar an email address for Marian.  She will be helping out around here and I welcome her whole heartedly.  YAY Marian!!

The separation occurred yesterday at 13:26 EDT and did a fly-around to check for any damage that might have occurred while docked (by micrometeoroids or space junk).  The shuttle was previously given the all clear to land so the fly around is a “just incase” kind of thing.

Currently the shuttle is preparing to do an engine burn to slow its speed slightly – about 10.3 feet per second or 7 miles per hour.  Seven miles per hour doesn’t seem like much, it is enough to change the orbit enough to set the shuttle up for the Friday landing.  Well gee, the 10 second burn is over.

The image above is the ISS from the Shuttle after the separation, look at the solar arrays on the right you can see the shadow of the shuttle.

Sarychev Volcano caught in an early eruptive phase by the crew on the ISS. Click for a larger version. Image: NASA / ISS crew.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this amazing image of the Sarychev Volcano on June 12, 2009.   As luck would have it, the eruption happened to be in the very early stages as the ISS flew over.

Here is an excerpt from the Earth Observatory website, be sure to go there to see the original image and read the whole story:

This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption. The main column is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance. The eruption cleared a circle in the cloud deck. The clearing may result from the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume: as the plume rises, air flows down around the sides like water flowing off the back of a surfacing dolphin. As air sinks, it tends to warm and expand; clouds in the air evaporate.

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud, which meteorologists call a pileus cloud, is probably a transient feature: the eruption plume is starting to punch through. The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume.

Lake Baikal, Russia taken by an ISS crewmember. Click for larger. Credit: NASA

A little over a month ago one of the crew members aboard the International Space Station took this very interesting picture of Lake Baikal, Russia.

The very intriguing pattern is explained below.

Read the press release from NASA HQ here:

A circle in thin ice in Lake Baikal, Russia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 19 crewmember on the International Space Station. Late in April 2009, astronauts aboard the station observed a strange circular area of thinned ice (dark in color, with a diameter of about 4.4 kilometers) in the southern end of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.

Lake Baikal is unique in many regards. It is the largest (by volume) and deepest (1,637 meters at the deepest point) fresh water lake on Earth and, as a World Heritage Site, is considered one of Russia’s environmental jewels. The lake’s long, thin and deep profile results from its location in the Baikal Rift valley in Siberia. According to scientists, it is also one of the world’s oldest lakes (25-30 million years old); it contains up to 7 kilometers of sediment deposited on the bottom, and is home to an amazing array of plants and animals, many being found only in Lake Baikal.
Read more »