NASA searches for ideas to bring asteroids closer to earth

 

U.S. space agency NASA has announced a formal proposal worth $6 million for projects that would help robots and astronauts grab an asteroid from deep space and bring it closer to earth for further study.

In support of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission — a key part of the agency’s stepping stone path to send humans to Mars — agency officials are seeking proposals for studies on advanced technology development.

NASA envisages spending up to $6 million on over 25 proposals this year.

The proposal should focus on technologies that can be used to identify potential targets like sending robotic spacecraft to capture the selected asteroid and put it in a stable orbit beyond the moon.

The technology should also help astronauts get to the space rock and bring back samples in the mid-2020s, NASA said in a statement.

“We are reaching out to seek new and innovative ideas as we extend the frontier of space exploration,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

“To reach Mars, we would rely on new technologies and advanced capabilities proven through the Asteroid Initiative. We are looking forward to exciting ideas from outside NASA as well to help realise that vision,” he added.

The proposals have to be submitted before May 5 and the space agency would reward the winners around July 1 for projects that would wrap up in six months.

According to Greg Williams, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for plans and policy, the selection process would build on a workshop that generated hundreds of ideas for asteroid exploration last year.

NASA is already supporting projects such as the Asteroid Data Hunter contest, which is offering $35,000 in awards over the next six months to citizen scientists who come up with improved algorithms for identifying asteroids.

Next year, the space agency would review mission concepts for redirecting an asteroid up to 10 metres wide — or breaking off a piece of a bigger asteroid and bringing it back.

NASA to send robotic mission to Europa

NASA is planning to send a daring robotic mission by 2025 to Jupiter’s watery moon Europa — one of the best bets for alien life beyond Earth in our solar system.

The American space agency has set aside $15 million in its 2015 budget proposal to start planning a mission to Europa.

NASA’s chief financial officer, Elizabeth Robinson, was quoted by The Times as saying that the Europa mission would be launched in the mid-2020s.

Laurie Leshin, astronomer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, said it would be “a daring mission to an extremely compelling object in our solar system.”

It is the first time the White House has mentioned a Europa mission in its budget, according to Wired.com.

“Clearly this is a statement by NASA that they recognise the priority and excitement of Europa exploration,” commented geologist Robert Pappalardo from NASA’s Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Europa is one of the solar system’s most mysterious moons. There may be a vast ocean beneath Europa’s icy crust, with more water in it than exists on all of Earth.

A little bit of that water may be erupting from geysers near the Europa’s south pole, sending plumes 200 kilometres into the air, a recent study has found.

Scientists can send a spacecraft flying through these jets in order to sample their composition.

“I would not be overly optimistic until I see the words, ‘We want to go to Europa’,” from the administration, said planetary scientist Alyssa Rhoden of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center.

Robinson said NASA will look at many competing ideas for a Europa mission, so the agency does not yet know how big or how much it will cost.

NEW EARTH LIKE PLANT FOUND

                                                                  

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars. "This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe." Kepler discovers planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets that cross in front, or "transit," the stars. Kepler requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.
                                                                                                                   source:NASA