Australia to play role in Mars mission


Australia will play a key role in President George W Bush's plans to massively expand the US space program.

Bush has unveiled a program to design a new space craft to replace the shuttle by 2015, Moon landings by robots and astronauts in the next two decades and completion of the international space station by 2010.

Bush also proposed a human mission to Mars launched from a Moon base.

The Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Centre, near Canberra, helped NASA keep in touch with its original missions to the Moon, and would be a vital communications link for US astronauts on Mars.

The tracking centre is part of a network of three facilities which allow NASA to constantly observe spacecraft as the earth rotates.

It is currently involved in maintaining communications with the tiny Spirit robot which is exploring Mars.

Tidbinbilla spokesman Glen Nagle said the facility could be used to track and transmit messages to and from manned missions to Mars.

"One of the antennas here on our site is the dish that brought back images of man walking on the Moon," Mr Nagle told AAP.

"If we have missions returning to the Moon and eventually sending people off to Mars we'll obviously be playing the key communications role in that.

"Our centre here played a role in all of the latter Apollo missions, providing the two-way communication, all of the telemetry from the space craft, knowing about spacecraft health, whether the astronauts were okay."

Acting Prime Minister John Anderson said he hoped there was a role for Australia in the expanded US space program.

"I think wherever there are opportunities to increase knowledge and extend our horizons it's a good thing for Australia to have a role," Mr Anderson said.

A spokeswoman for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said the new space missions could present new opportunities for Australian companies.

She pointed to the success of Melbourne-based company Aerosonde Ltd, which last year won a contract with NASA to determine the feasibility of conducting earth science research using small, unmanned aerial vehicles.

Aerosonde chief operating officer Greg Tyrrell said he was not sure if his company would benefit from an expanded NASA budget.

"We're hopeful, but we can't say," he said.

"The main thing you need for any of these missions is a very large booster," he said.

Former Australian astronaut Andy Thomas was excited about Bush's proposal to send astronauts to Mars.

He said the US was capable of designing and building a vehicle to complete the mission.

"For that you would use something derived from the shuttle probably and you would develop a crew exploration vehicle to make the journey," he told ABC radio.

Catch22,

It didn't take long for the effects to be felt...

NASA is halting all space shuttle missions to service the Hubble Space Telescope, a move that will lead to it becoming useless within five years. The decision has been taken because, under President Bush's new space program, the space shuttle will be retired in 2010.

Delphic. Very delphic.

The Hubble was one of the best things going.

Catch22,

Indeed it was – and is.

This decision guarantees that the Hubble will go off-line before NASA’s scheduled replacement telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, in 2011, but it is unclear whether that project will be affected.

Anyone, not just professional astronomers, can download over the internet all Hubble's images just one year after they are taken. In their first year, Hubble's observations belong to the astronomer who carries them out. After that they belong to everyone.

Gentlefolk,

Spirit has stopped sending useful data to Earth and mission scientists are unable to send it commands.

NASA says the problem could either be due to a major power fault, software corruption or memory corruption.

Bad Karma!

Gentlefolk,

NASA chief Sean O'Keefe has agreed to reconsider his decision to abandon the Hubble Space Telescope! Mr. O'Keefe has now asked Harold Gehman, who led the Columbia accident inquiry, to look into the Hubble issue.

No more servicing would limit Hubble's life to approximately three more years.

He made the decision earlier this month because he decided that flying the shuttle anywhere other than to the International Space Station was too dangerous following the Columbia disaster. If anything went wrong on a flight, the shuttle's astronauts would at least be able to wait on the ISS until a way was found to bring them down safely to Earth.

But astronomers pointed out that NASA would also have to plan for a situation in which the space shuttle got into space but could not dock with the ISS. In this scenario, NASA would have to ensure that astronauts could inspect the shuttle, and perhaps repair it, without help from the ISS.

It follows, therefore, that if the shuttle can go into space without visiting the ISS, it should also be able to visit the Hubble telescope as well.

I sure hope that this logic is as persuasive to Mr. Gehmen as it is too me!

Gentlefolk,

NASA has, alas, said no to the - hoped for by many - Hubble reprieve.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3474891.stm

No doubt to fall on the Australian outback in ten yeears time.

Catch22,

On a happier note, I heard that NASA secretly sent a number of Holsteins into orbit for experimental purposes.









...they called it the herd shot round the world.

...this just in.
 

Gentlefolk,

I have been watching and listening to the news briefing from NASA today, and some of the rocks that Opportunity has been examining were once "washed with water"!

Surfs up!

Gentlefolk,

Here's a link to the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3524275.stm