Loren W. ActonMontana State University

January 20, 2011

Interact Rotary ClubBozeman High School

We humans are motivated to dream, to explore, to discover, to

learn.

"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."

--  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today

and the reality of tomorrow.”

-- Robert H. Goddard

Dr. Robert H. Goddard1882-1945

The beginning of space exploration

First view of Earth from a camera on V-2 #13, launched October 24, 1946. White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory

J. F. Kennedy -- Rice UniversitySeptember 12, 1962

Buzz Aldrin setting out scientific instruments on Apollo 11.

Al Bean, tourist pose, Apollo 12

Did Galileoget it right?

-Dave Scott, experimenter

Apollo 15

Painting by Al Bean, Apollo 12

Apollo 16 Rover Grand Prix

Apollo 17 Oops! Apollo 17 “Dad gummit!”

Apollo 17 Rock hounds

*July 29, 1985. Second launch attempt.

*

Off to work on the ISS

Soyuz, another route to the ISS

“Butch” Wilmore gives a tour of the ISS

Shuttle “Fly around”

Wonders of Robotic Space Exploration

“Humans in space” have generated a grand public interest and excitement. Yet, it is robotic space explorations that have paid the biggest dividends of remarkable new knowledge and useful applications. E.g.,

• Solar physics and space weather.• Planetary exploration.• Astronomy and astrophysics.• Earth remote sensing, climate and weather.• Global Positioning System.• Communication and broadcasting.• Military intelligence.

Today we’ll touch on only a few exciting experiments.

The GOES-13 satellite captured a "full-disk image" of North and South America on December 30 at 09:45 EST, as the world awaited the new year.

Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project

A Robot's Shadow on Asteroid ItokawaHayabusa, a mission of ISAS/JAXA, Japan

Image of Itokawa taken by Hayabusa.

Hayabusa capsule in Woomera, Australia, desert.

Sample return from Asteroid Itokawa. December 2010.

ISAS/JAXA HayabusaMission.

First sample from Itokawa

Snowstorm Engulfs Comet Hartley 2

Observed by NASA Deep Impact (extended) mission on November 4, 2010.

Comet Hartley 2, photographed on Oct. 13, 2010 by Nick Howes using the 2-meter Faulkes North Telescope in Hawaii.

Source of the Hartley 2 snow storm.2 km

CO2 jet

Solar Dynamics ObservatoryBlue: 0.8 MK, Green: 1.3 MK, Red: 2.0 MK

January 2011

Big (M5.4) x-ray flare.6 Nov. 2010 15:36

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory

A coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by STEREO on Dec. 12, 2008

NASA Stereo observations of the coronal mass ejection of 1 Aug 2010.

Bottom: Sun and its immediate surroundings (north at the top).

Top: Views past the Earth and beyond.

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Cartoon of a Coronal Mass Ejection and its Impact on the Earth’s Magnetosphere

http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach/cmeposter/movies

Magnetic storm – 10 January 1997

Space Plasma Physics Group & Advanced Visualization Lab., Univ. of Marylandhttp://www.spp.astro.umd.edu/mhd/jan_cloud.htm

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Discovery of Cosmic Microwave Background, 1965Nobel Prize, 1978.

Images taken from: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_cmb.html

Variation from placeto place on the skyis as much as about± 0.004ºK.

Image taken from: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_cmb.html

Cosmic Background Explorer - 1992

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe - 2001

CMB Temperaturerange = .0005K!

Credit: The InternetEncyclopedia of Science

Diagram taken from: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_tests_cmb.html

The CMB bottom line.

• Velocity of our solar system through the universe equals 368 km/sec.

• Age of the universe is 13.75 billion years (since the big bang).

• The universe is made up of: 4% ordinary matter23% dark matter73% dark energy

Oh, the adventure and wonder of space exploration!

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