June 25th radio show online - GLAST

Available here is the June 25th radio show, not surprisingly devoted to the launch of the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) which I've been talking about and expected for the past 6 months. On this program, I covered:

• Calendar of upcoming events in the greater New York City / Poughkeepsie area
• GLAST: History of gamma-ray astronomy; many if not most of known gamma-ray sources are unidentified; GLAST significantly more sensitive and has much better angular and energy resolution than previous satellites. Has two main instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT will be used to constantly survey the gamma-ray sky (link), while the GBM is designed to detect transient events. Succesfully launched of June 11 (link), the first science observations are not expected to occur until 2 months after launch. To check out a music video summarizing the development and science of GLAST, go here.
• Interview with Dr. Charles Meegan of Marshall Space Flight Center, primary investigator of the GBM, discussing the science and technology of this instrument.
• Phoenix Mars Lander: Lots of daily updates
  • 5 June - two practice digs uncovered bright material in the soil just below the surface (link).
  • 6 June - Optical Microscope on Phoenix Mars Lander returns highest resolution images ever of Martian surface, seeing particles <1/10 the diameter of a human hair (link), first scoop of soil delivered to one of the on-board laboratories (link).
  • 7 June - soil was too clump to pass through the screen protecting the instrument, mission controllers will attempt to shake the material through(link).
  • 9 June - shaking continues, new soil sample acquired for a different instrument on the Phoenix Mars Lander (link).
  • 10 June - Mission controller tests a sprinkling technique to deliver soil to Phoenix Mars Lander which will hopefully break up the clumpy soil (link).
  • 11 June - Phoenix Mars Lander has oven full of soil, why it passed through the screen all of sudden not completely understood (link).
  • 13 June - Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkles some soil into another instrument (link).
  • 14 June - Two instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander now analyzing chemical composition, other properties of Martian soil (link).
  • 17 June - Baking of martian soil continues while robotic arm digs deeper to study the bright material uncovered on 3 June (link).
  • 18 June - Robotic arm keeps on digger, hoping to uncover more of the bright, white material first seen on 3 June (link); overload in mission housekeeping data causes some information in flash memory to be lost, not of it critical science data (link).
  • 19 June - Bright material uncovered on 3 June disappears, likely meaning that is was ice (as opposed to a bright salt-like compound) that sublimated (evaporated) after being exposed, confirming that ice below the surface on Mars is not confined to the polar regions (link, link).
  • 22 June - Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkles soil onto the Optical Microscope for a close-in image (link).

Thank you very much for listening, and hope you enjoyed this program. Please email or leave below any questions, comments or concerns you might have - any and all feedback is appreciated!

NASA's Call for Astronauts

NASA is accepting applications for the 2009 Astronaut Candidate Class until July 1st, so if you want to try apply soon! To apply, go here and for more information, go here. Good luck.

Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope

As you can watch here (courtesy of Kennedy Space Center and YouTube):

the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has finally been launched and appears to be (so-far, knock on wood) working well. GLAST is NASA's next generation gamma-ray observatory, and will detect photons with energies a million to a billion more energetic than optical light - an energy range currently being observed by zero satellites and undetectable from the ground, either directly or indirectly. For more information on what I think is NASA's most interesting astronomical satellite in the last or next 10 years (though I am admittedly biased given that GLAST does serve my research interests), I encourage you to check out this webpage as well as my interviews with Dr. Julie McEnery on GLAST and its main science instrument, the Large Area Telescope, and with Dr. David Thompson on the gamma-ray sky and the importance of multi-wavelength observations in understanding these high energy sources.

Today's radio show was also devoted to GLAST, and I hope to post it soon. As always, questions, comments, or concerns are welcomed.

NASA at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

At this year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held on the Mall in DC starting today to June 29th and between July 2-6, there will be a large number of displays and events devoted to NASA, in honor of its 50th birthday. There are going to be a lot of really interesting events for people of all ages, go here (PDF file) for a schedule. Hope you enjoy!

Exo-planet Anagrams

The study of planets, both in our Solar System and those orbiting other stars, is a very competitive business and has been for many centuries, so Astronomers have used anagrams to hide their results before they are willing to make them published. A recent example of this, and some discussion of this technique, is available here. Good luck!

Solstice Moon Illusion

Tonight is the solstice full moon, meaning that the Moon will be very low on the horizon and will appear to be huge. As explained in this Science@NASA article, this is an optical illusion based on how our brain processes data - but makes for wonderful pictures regardless. Hope you get a chance to look at it.

Interview with former astronaut Captain Gene Cernan (Ret.)

As many of you probably already know, the Discovery channel is now broadcasting a new documentary on NASA titled When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions which covers the history of NASA's manned spacecraft program, and includes lots of amazing documentary footage never before broadcast. (I saw the first few installments while in Socorro, NM for a summer school on radio interferometry, and it is extremely impressive.) As part of the publicity for this documentary, the Discovery channel hosted an interview with former astronaut Captain Gene Cernan (Ret.), which you can listen to here. Enjoy!

GLAST launch schedule for today

The Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is scheduled to launch today, weather and safety checks permitting. Cross your fingers that it gets off successfully...

June 4th radio show online - News

Available here is the June 4th episode of this radio show. I covered the latest developments concerning the Mars Phoenix Lander as it gets ready to start studying the soil (and atmosphere) of Mars, as well as the important Astronomical news which occurred while I was away. I hope to put a more detailed synopsis below, soon, but am trying to finish an observing proposal before I leave this afternoon for a summer school hosted by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Unfortunately, since I'll be gone, there probably won't be any radio show this week or the week after - but if I get a chance to record one, I'll be sure to post it here.

Thanks a lot for listening, and please email me or post below any questions, comments, or concerns you might have. Take care.

Another Astronomy Quiz

John Tierney, one of the senior science writers at the NY Times, has put a second Astronomy quiz online. I did better on this one than I did on the last one, thankfully. Good luck!

May 28th radio show online - "Mars Phoenix Lander"

Available here, this episode is in honor of the Mars Phoenix Lander which successfully reached the surface of Mars. On this show, I covered:

• Phoenix Mars Lander: Goals and scientific instruments on the Phoenix Mars Lander, history of spacecraft sent to Mars, landing procedure, detection of first contact with Phoenix Mars Lander (link), first commands and weather reports for Martian surface, (really cool) picture of Phoenix Mars Lander landing taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (link)
• Calendar of upcoming Astronomy/science events in the greater Poughkeepsie and New York City areas
• Mars: The Phoenix Mars Lander is by far not the only spacecraft currently studying Mars, with orbiters using top quality cameras to map the Martian surface, radar system to study what lies beneath (link). Recent discoveries include - regularly spaced layering in Martian rocks appears to be result of changes in climate due to changes in Mars's orbit around the Sun (link); stepped delta formations on Mars surface caused by rapid water release, like a dam breaking; ancient Martian like identified inside Holden crater (link); Martian rovers detect a lot of salt in Martian surface which suggests that any liquid water that previously existed on Martian surface was probably too acidic to support the formation of life (link, article); detection of chlorides on Martian surface suggest past presence of liquid water (article).

Thank you very much for listening, and hope you enjoyed this program. I will do my best on future programs to keep you up-to-date with regard to the Phoenix Mars Lander, which is supposed to accomplish all of its main science goals in just 90 days! As always, please email or leave below any questions, comments, or concerns you might have.

Take care.