[Spacetalk] https://www.nasa.gov/index.html; https://spaceflightnow.com

Tue Aug 20 21:01:34 CDT 2019

hi all..

sitting in the airport in Dallas (now in LA, started this earlier).. after the craziest start to any trip....I pretty much had the day planned as I had so much to do in the short time home, in addition to being sick and losing my voice in Brazil....I believed my flight left at 9:15 and I had to be at the airport by 7:25....around 5 I realized the plane left at 7:25, Just started to pack, it takes me about 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport, then you have to check bags, clear security and get to the gate...I knew this was not so good, especially going to Australia....somehow I got to the airport in record time (I have no idea what I did not pack) checked in and they said where is your Visa? no where does anyone tell you, you need a Visa for Australia...but then I remembered the same thing happened to me last year but I was at the airport early and was able to get it on line...I said, is the one from last year still good? it was good until September 3rd...I come back on the 1st...lucked out again :-)  got to the plane with about 5 minutes to spare...get on the plane...we sit & sit & sit...no pilots...how is this possible? when we finally leave we are over an hour late, there are terrible storms so we get to Dallas too late and I miss my flight to Australia...by now the airport is closed, nothing open, no one to help....I end up sitting in the airport all night, trying everything to reach the airlines...it was so cold, I had been sick in Brazil, my voice has not fully come back and I am freezing sitting in a chair all night...finally about 5 am, I reach someone to help me...I am still in the airport, my flight leaves at 2:45…to LA, then 7 hours there before I go to Sydney, then arrive in Adelaide at 9:55am on the 22nd…ALL FUN…so disappointing because I will miss 2 days speaking with the kids…but gotta still feel fortunate…there are many people who would "trade me problems"...

I know many schools are back with many more returning soon…it really is beyond comprehension how fast time goes…everything is going well with the space program…be sure to sign the kids up for the Mars 2020, https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020/e/ <https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020/e/> the rover has a micro chip so all the names will go to Mars in July 2020…you can also go to UTube and see a live feed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena as engineers are building and testing it…the ultimate Robotics lessons...https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7418 <https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7418>
also, there is an ongoing contest to name the Mars 2020  Rover….the kids can join in and vote…
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/ <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/?fbclid=IwAR3tfzVEpYYoAXqUt4re9e8dODwx0SQnd2kooXN4EdF4gyZkm7cU8dhwkYw>Name the Rover Contest
Participate in a nationwide contest giving K-12 students in U.S. schools a chance to make history by naming the Mars 2020 rover. Contest opens in August 2019.
mars.nasa.gov
 <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/name-the-rover/?fbclid=IwAR0SPwEZQFZYaA6Lg_VJEBtQ0R2auIlYKk-_woEDS2w4__RraZDRfMLYm8A>
Gabe

we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves, and let those we care about most know…hugs & smiles…:-) :-) love ya, Gabe

Watch Spacewalkers Install New Commercial Docking Port on NASA TV <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/08/20/watch-spacewalkers-install-new-commercial-docking-port-on-nasa-tv/>

NASA astronauts (from left) Andrew Morgan and Nick Hague pose with the spacesuits they will wear during a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to install the International Docking Adapter-3.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/tyler-nick-hague> and Andrew Morgan <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/andrew-r-morgan>, assigned as flight engineers for Expedition 60 aboard the International Space Station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>, will begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk from inside the Quest airlock about 8:20 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21. Live NASA Television coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. The duo will assist in the installation of International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 on the space-facing side of the station’s Harmony module.

America's Largest Asteroid Impact Left a Trail of Destruction Across the Eastern United States <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=cd9e8d0fc87c76b8e5096de355b02129b11d1f4a3e9ae3d9c5027a093bcb8fa6c3e5292e6e71d7c1c15ef16034c73f310814100fa41a4bd82d45d6731a83f8fa>

About 35 million years ago, an asteroid <https://www.space.com/asteroid-wont-hit-earth-september-2019.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher> traveling nearly 144,000 mph (231,000  km/h) smashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the modern-day town of Cape Charles, Virginia. The space rock vaporized instantly, but its impact triggered a gargantuan tsunami <https://www.livescience.com/3731-tsunamis-history.html>, cast up a monsoon of shattered rocks and molten glass that spanned hundreds of miles and carved out the single largest crater in the United States — the so-called Chesapeake Bay <https://www.livescience.com/47289-mastodon-found-under-chesapeake-bay.html> impact structure. Today, that 25-mile-wide (40 kilometers) crater is buried half a mile below the rocky basement of Chesapeake Bay — the 200-mile-long (320 km) estuary linking Virginia and Maryland on the East Coast. That hasn't stopped scientists from trying to piece together the site's mysterious history since it was first discovered during a drilling project in 1990. In a recent study of ocean sediment cores taken almost 250 miles (400 km) northeast of the impact site, researchers found traces of radioactive debris dating to the time of the strike, providing fresh evidence of the impact's age and destructive power. 

SpaceX's Starman and Elon Musk's Tesla Have Made a Lap Around the Sun <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=cd9e8d0fc87c76b8eb9fa224b611adb827a2d2aa185d8cf329016abbb82dd52b735c503ebe1a77a1747bf07bef1ce7ed872dfb693eb11ca98dba5cab935a2d48>

SpaceX's Starman mannequin sits inside Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster with Earth in the background, shortly after the initial launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6, 2018. (Image: © SpaceX)
Starman and his deep-space ride have completed their first lap around the sun. The spacesuit-clad mannequin, who sits behind the wheel of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster, launched on Feb. 6, 2018, on the inaugural flight of the huge Falcon Heavy rocket <https://www.space.com/39607-spacex-falcon-heavy-first-test-flight-launch.html>. The duo wrapped up their first solar orbit over the weekend, according to the tracking site whereisroadster.com <http://whereisroadster.com/>. Starman and the Tesla have an orbital period of about 557 Earth days, the website calculated, and they've been in space for 560 days as of Monday (Aug. 19).

Did a Black Hole Swallow a Neutron Star 900 Million Years Ago? <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=cd9e8d0fc87c76b856cae97074e81faefadd1147f858f3e79d0a5369ffd43a8c14b5b34c190b4f026455c16360804d6f748529ece427c49c9499e966363c94c4>

An artist's visualization of a black hole swallowing a neutron star.(Image: © Carl Knox/OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence)
Scientists may have observed <https://www.space.com/25088-gravitational-waves.html> something that has never been seen before: a black hole swallowing a neutron star.  About 900 million years ago, a catastrophic cosmic event sparked a ripple in space-time that passed through Earth last week <https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/08/astronomers-probably-just-saw-black-hole-swallow-neutron-star/> (Aug. 14). Scientists observed the event at both the advanced LIGO <https://www.space.com/ligo-observes-black-hole-merger-after-one-week.html> (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) and Virgo, LIGO's Italian counterpart. After further investigation and initial speculations, scientists think that this ripple could have been caused by the merger of a black hole and a neutron star.  Currently, scientists can only confirm that the signal detected by LIGO and Virgo is a gravitational-wave candidate, LIGO team member Christopher Berry, a physicist at Northwestern University, told Space.com. But, while Berry is hesitant to label the binary, known as S190814bv, because scientists have yet to confirm what objects may have merged and their exact sizes, "from our initial estimates, it looks like this could potentially be a neutron star-black hole binary," he said. 

Apollo to OmegA: NASA Signs Over Legacy Launcher for New Rocket <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=f87fd3b21aa5e9b784b9d075f9a275ad746b9865f2e88f7d1600e6b4bdbd7aa3314197dc42d1937498adad946d950543b8b40230479356f8c0031cf1d8d3f396>

Mobile Launcher Platform-3 returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building after launch of space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-135 mission in 2011. (NASA)

NASA Calls on Students to Submit Proposals for Moon and Mars Missions <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=4f5919e4ef7fa1b8c14e1b1173065073335a78085ed67bf8295a1e80bf3ec447f87dce2282c587e79b6f8f560c81846f770330ee373b982f0c5379aa00407722>

Young minds are being called on to contribute to humanity's future space exploration, as NASA calls for proposals from students for the agency's upcoming mission to the moon <https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html>. The Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concept - Academic Linkage  <http://rascal.nianet.org/overview/>(RASC-AL) competition is now open and accepting applications from undergraduate and graduate students to develop innovative concepts for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to land humans on the moon in 2024, as well as the future exploration of Mars <https://www.space.com/4-mars-missions-one-year-from-july-2020-launch.html>. "This year's RASC-AL competition directly addresses the agency's goals for the Artemis program: returning humans to the moon with the intent to prove concepts for sustainably exploring Mars," Douglas Craig, manager of strategic analysis for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) division at NASA headquarters in Washington, said in a statement <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wanted-university-students-with-new-concepts-for-moon-and-mars>.

Black Hole Closer to Earth Than Thought 

Astronomers haveaccurately measured the distance between Earth and a particular black hole forthe first time. And wow, is it close.

The researchersdetermined that the black hole V404 Cygni is located 7,800 light-years fromEarth ? or just slightly more than half the distance that was previouslyassumed.

That puts it relatively nearby to Earth, where the distance to the center of the galaxy is about 26,000 light-years, and the nearest star beyond the sun is a mere 4.2light-years away.

The more accurate distance measurement will enable scientists to paint a better picture of how blackholes evolve, the team says.(Image: © SRON)
 <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.space.com/7678-black-hole-closer-earth-thought.html> <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.space.com/7678-black-hole-closer-earth-thought.html> <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.space.com/7678-black-hole-closer-earth-thought.html> <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.space.com/7678-black-hole-closer-earth-thought.html>The more accurate distance measurement will enable scientists to paint a better picture of how blackholes evolve, the team says. <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.space.com/7678-black-hole-closer-earth-thought.html>(Image: © SRON)
Astronomers haveaccurately measured the distance between Earth and a particular black hole forthe first time. And wow, is it close.

The researchersdetermined that the black hole V404 Cygni is located 7,800 light-years fromEarth ? or just slightly more than half the distance that was previouslyassumed.

That puts itrelatively nearby to Earth, where the distance to the center of the galaxy isabout 26,000 light-years, and the nearest star beyond the sun is a mere 4.2light-years away.

The moreaccurate distance measurement will enable scientists to paint a better pictureof how blackholes evolve, the team says