Exploding star missing from formation of solar system

Scientists in the University of Chicago's Origins Laboratory have published the latest in a series of papers about the origin of the solar system. Infant stars glow reddish-pink in this infrared image of the Serpens star-forming region, captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Four and a half billion years ago, the sun may have looked much like one of the baby stars deeply embedded in the cosmic cloud of gas and dust that collapsed to create it. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Cieza (University of Texas at Austin).

A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star forced the formation of the solar system. In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 - the telltale sign of an exploding star-low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material.

As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Exploding_star_missing_from_formation_of_solar_system_999.html

ISS Orbit Raised Ahead of Crew Arrival

International Space Station Expedition 34 will perform two spacewalks under the Russian and US space programs.

The International Space Station's orbit has been increased by almost 2.5 kilometers in a test of the station's new emergency debris avoidance system, Mission Control told RIA Novosti.

The new system, known as the Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM), addresses the situation where dangerous debris is detected with little advance warning, down to as little as three hours from the approach.

The reboost was originally scheduled for Thursday, but had been postponed "after encountering some challenges latching down one of the Beta Gimbal Assemblies that rotate the station's huge solar arrays," NASA said on its website.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_Orbit_Raised_Ahead_of_Crew_Arrival_999.html

Enabling ChemCam to Measure Key Isotopic Ratios on Mars and Other Planets

ChemCam is a science instrument on the mast of the Curiosity rover (Photo: NASA JPL).

On August 6th, 2012 the automatic rover "Curiosity" landed on Mars. One of the scientific instruments on board is ChemCam, which has a pulsed laser capable of ablating a focused spot on a remote sample to create a glowing plasma plume of target's material. Light from plasma is collected by rover's telescope on a mast, and the optical spectra are then analyzed by an internal spectrometer.

ChemCam can take thousands spectra per day from a distance of about 7 meters, thus making chemical analyses on the surface of Mars with unprecedented speed. ChemCam has become the most frequently used instrument on the rover because of simplicity of its stand-off operation.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Enabling_ChemCam_to_Measure_Key_Isotopic_Ratios_on_Mars_and_Other_Planets_999.html

Station Crew Does Maintenance as Soyuz Rolls to Launch Pad

The Soyuz spacecraft that will carry Marshburn, Hadfield and Romanenko to the station was transported by railcar to the launch pad Monday after its three stages were mated together Sunday.

Final launch preparations are under way at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as three Expedition 34 flight engineers get ready for their launch to round out the standard six-person crew on the International Space Station.

The three Expedition 34 crew members currently living and working aboard the station were busy with a variety of maintenance duties and science experiments Monday as they wait for the launch and arrival of their crewmates.

Commander Kevin Ford unpacked medical kit supplies brought to the station aboard the ISS Progress 49 cargo craft and packed trash and other unneeded items aboard the ISS Progress 48 cargo craft for disposal.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Station_Crew_Does_Maintenance_as_Soyuz_Rolls_to_Launch_Pad_999.html

GRAIL Lunar Impact Site Named for Astronaut Sally Ride

The final flight path for NASA's twin GRAIL mission spacecraft to impact the moon on Dec. 17. GRAIL's MoonKAM is the signature education and public outreach program led by Sally Ride Science-founded by Dr. Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.

NASA has named the site where twin agency spacecraft impacted the moon Monday in honor of the late astronaut Sally K. Ride, who was America's first woman in space and a member of the probes' mission team.

Last Friday, Ebb and Flow, the two spacecraft comprising NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, were commanded to descend into a lower orbit that would result in an impact Monday on a mountain near the moon's north pole. The formation-flying duo hit the lunar surface as planned at 2:28:51 p.m. PST (5:28:51 p.m. EST) and 2:29:21 p.m. PST (5:29:21 p.m. EST) at a speed of 3,760 mph (1.7 kilometers per second).

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/GRAIL_Lunar_Impact_Site_Named_for_Astronaut_Sally_Ride_999.html

UI-led team confirms 'gusty winds' in space turbulence

Imagine riding in an airplane as the plane is jolted back and forth by gusts of wind that you can't prove exist but are there nonetheless. Similar turbulence exists in space, and a research team led by the University of Iowa reports to have directly measured it for the first time in the laboratory.

"Turbulence is not restricted to environments here on Earth, but also arises pervasively throughout the solar system and beyond, driving chaotic motions in the ionized gas, or plasma, that fills the universe," says Gregory Howes, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the UI and lead author of the paper to be published Dec. 17 in the online edition of Physical Review Letters, the journal of the American Physical Society.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/UI_led_team_confirms_gusty_winds_in_space_turbulence_999.html