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US space agency Nasa has sharply downgraded the threat that a massive asteroid could slam into Earth in 2036.

Killer asteroid in the 1998 Bruce Willis film Armageddon

Apophis was discovered in 2004 and is two-and-a-half times the size of an American football field.

It captured widespread attention after calculations suggested it might pose a threat to the planet.

There is now a one-in-250,000 chance of a collision with Earth in 2036, according to new calculations by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

This was sharply down from an earlier estimate of a one-in-45,000 chance.

At first, astronomers feared the 885ft (270-metre) asteroid had a 2.7% chance of colliding with Earth in 2029.

Later calculations ruled out a collision in that year, leaving 2036 as the encounter posing the greatest danger.

Apophis is now expected to sail about 18,300 miles (29,450km) above Earth’s surface on April 13, 2029 – closer than some satellites.

Artist's impression of an asteroid

Even though scientists are certain it will not hit the Earth, the Los Angeles Times said they are less sure about how the close approach will affect the asteroid’s orbit.

“The deflection caused by the 2029 encounter will be significant,” Steve Chesley, of JPL’s Near-Earth Object Programme office, told the paper.

“We’re not worried about 2029. We’re worried about its future trajectory.”

JPL is to present its results at the conference of the American Astronomical Society in Puerto Rico on October 8.

“The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared,” Near-Earth office manager Don Yeomans said.

taken from SkyNews

Nasa scientists are hoping to make a splash by “bombing” the Moon with two spacecraft later today.

Nasa image of the two mooncraft separating before the crash landings

The aim is to crash projectiles at the lunar south pole, kicking up a six-mile high dust cloud that may contain water.

British researchers helped Nasa pick the spot for the attempt, which will be broadcast live on the American space agency’s website.

The Cabeus south polar region was identified by the University of Durham team as a site with high concentrations of hydrogen – a key component of water.

It is believed water ice could lie at the bottom of dark craters at the Moon’s poles, where temperatures are lower than minus 170C.

The spacecraft consist of a LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) and its 2.2 tonne empty Centaur launch rocket.

They have been attached since blasting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida in June.

The probe and rocket will separate, then at 12.31pm the larger rocket will smash into a narrow, shaded crater at 5,600 mph.

The impact will throw 350 tonnes of debris over six miles into the air, making the event watchable from Earth.

Following close behind, the LCROSS satellite will fly through the material and four minutes later plunge into the crater itself.

LCROSS will trigger its own dust cloud a third of the size of the first one.

If all goes well there could one day be a manned base on the moon

As the debris is propelled into sunlight, scientists on Earth will study its composition with ground-based telescopes.

Dr Vincent Eke, from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham, said: “Water ice could be stable for billions of years on the Moon provided that it is cold enough.

“If ice is present in the permanently shaded lunar craters of the Moon then it could potentially provide a water source for the eventual establishment of a manned base on the Moon.

“Such a base could be used as a platform for exploration into the further reaches of our Solar System.”

story from SkyNews

Cape Canaveral – Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts are back on Earth.

Endeavour landed at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre late on Friday morning after a 16-day mission that saw them complete all their major construction goals at the international space station.

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata is back after four-and-a-half months in space. He says he can’t wait to eat some sushi and see his wife and son.

Japan’s space station lab got a porch for experiments during Endeavour’s visit. The crew also installed fresh batteries and stockpiled big spare parts.

It was eventful in other ways. The astronauts celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing with their own spacewalk. They also coped with a flooded toilet and an overheated air-purifier.

taken from News24

Washington – New Nasa photos of the moon show leftovers from man’s exploration 40 years ago.

For the first time, photos from space pinpoint equipment left behind from the Apollo landings, and even the well-worn tracks made by astronauts on the moon surface. The images are from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched last month and now circles the moon in search of future landing sites.

The photos were released on Friday, in time for the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20 1969. A picture of the Apollo 11 site shows the Eagle lunar module used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

“It was really great to see the hardware sitting on the surface, waiting for us to come back,” said Arizona State University scientist Mark Robinson, who runs the camera on the orbiter. “You could actually see the descent module sitting on the surface.”

But that’s only if you know where to look. Nasa helps out by putting a giant arrow on each photo. The lunar landers look to be square white blobs; the Eagle is a fuzzy image near a crater.

Nasa landed on the moon six times, but the orbital camera so far has only photographed five of the landing sites. Apollo 12 will be done later. That leaves Apollo 11 and Apollo 14 through 17. Apollo 13 never landed on the moon because of an explosion on board the ship on the way to the moon.

The images for Apollo 14 are the best so far. Taken on Wednesday, they show the path made by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell as they went back and forth from the lander to the work site.

Robinson said the route was “a high traffic zone, sort of like when you go in an old building and the carpet is worn down”. A similar but lighter path could be seen at the Apollo 17 site.

Also at the Apollo 14 site, a close examination shows a trail made by the cart used to carry tools, Robinson said.

The photos varied in quality based on how high up the satellite was and the angle of the sun. For Apollo 11, the spaceship was taking pictures from 110km above. For Apollo 14, it was asbout 10km closer.

In the next couple months, as the lunar satellite starts its mission to map the moon for future landing sites for astronauts, it will get much better photos, Robinson said. The mission is a first step in Nasa’s effort to return humans to the moon by 2020.

Other robotic probes, including those launched by Japan and India, have looked for signs that man was on the moon, but their cameras weren’t strong enough, Nasa officials said.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched with a second spacecraft that was designed to crash into the moon in the fall to try to find buried ice. The total cost of the mission is $583m.

story from News24

PS: Has anyone seen these photographs, if so please send us a copy!

Dayton – It was a reunion of reunions.

Twelve Apollo astronauts reminisced, traded stories and poked fun at each other on Friday night as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing and moonwalk approached.

The astronauts, including first ‘moonmen’ Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, attended the ceremony in which the National Aviation Hall of Fame presented the Apollo crews with the “Spirit of Flight” award for their courage and dedication.

The crowd of hundreds at the National Museum of the United States Air Force erupted in cheers when a video chronicling the space program replayed Armstrong’s famous first words after stepping on the moon July 20, 1969: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

In this July 20, 1969 file photo, Astronauts Neil Armstrong, left, and Edwin E Aldrin, Jr, place an American flag on the surface of the moon, near the lunar lander that brought them to the lunar surface.

“It was spectacular,” Armstrong recalled of gazing at the moon’s surface as he took those first steps. “Any time you go to a place where everything you see is different than anything you’ve ever seen before in your life, it’s unique and it’s memorable. And that certainly was.”

However, Armstrong said he and Aldrin had little time to savour the experience.

“We didn’t rest hardly five seconds when we got a message from Mission Control, saying get on with the next item,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong said he had been a backup on Apollo 8 and that when he wasn’t needed was asked if he wanted to be on the third mission down the line – what turned out to be the fateful Apollo 11 mission. He said it was difficult to predict the exact mission of succeeding flights.

“We knew we had a chance at landing, but it was by no means certain,” he said. (continue reading…)

Cape Canaveral – The lightning storms and tank problems that have blighted five attempts to launch the space shuttle Endeavour will leave cash-strapped Nasa footing $4.5m in extra costs, the US space agency said.

“The cost of a scrub is approximately $1m,” said spokesperson Allard Beutel at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre here.

Along with the cost of filling, draining and then refilling the external tanks so many times with specialised liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel, the cost is also boosted by overtime pay for Nasa employees and other workers at the space centres here.

The overall $4.5m cost provided by information from Nasa is “marginal” in Nasa’s overall operating budget, added Beutel. The agency says the space shuttle Endeavour alone, built to replace the shuttle Challenger, cost some $1.7bn.

The weather has been blamed for scuttling chances to launch Endeavour in recent days, but Nasa has promised a sixth attempt late Wednesday to reach the International Space Station mission.

The shuttle is now set to lift off at 18:03 (2203 GMT) on Wednesday from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the US space agency saying there is only a 40% chance of unfavourable weather conditions this time.

A launch was also being considered for Thursday, the last possible date before interfering with the July 24 lift-off of the Russian cargo craft Progress to the ISS, launch integration manager Mike Moses told reporters.

Although Russian space officials have accepted the Thursday launch option, Moses noted that it would force Nasa to abort the fifth spacewalk planned for Endeavour’s mission to the ISS.

If the shuttle does not take off on Wednesday or Thursday, the next launch window would begin on July 26.