Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EXO LIFE
NASA Satellite Reaches Orbit, Begins Astrobiology Experiments
by Staff Writers
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Nov 24, 2010


Now that O/OREOS is activated and has begun transmitting radio signals to ground control stations at Santa Clara University, the nanosatellite will send mission data to the NASA Mission Management and science teams at Ames for analysis.

The Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses, or O/OREOS, nanosatellite managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, successfully launched at 5:25 p.m. PST on Friday, Nov. 19, 2010, from Alaska Aerospace Corporations Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

O/OREOS rode into orbit aboard a four-stage Air Force Minotaur IV rocket. Also aboard were the Air Force Research Laboratorys Space Test ProgramSat-2 (STPSat-2), NASA's Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, payload bus which carried the NanoSail-Demonstration, NASA's first solar sail, as well as other satellites developed by universities and industry.

The goal of the O/OREOS mission is to demonstrate the capability to conduct low-cost astrobiology science experiments on autonomous nanosatellites in space.

Scientists will apply the knowledge they gain from O/OREOS to plan future experiments in the space environment to study how exposure to space changes organic molecules and biology. These experiments will help answer astrobiologys fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

"It was a spectacular sunset launch as O/OREOS got a piggyback ride into space on the STPSat-2 mission," said Bruce Yost, O/OREOS mission manager at Ames.

"We're off to a great start, having made contact with O/OREOS with our ground station at Santa Clara University, received confirmation that the spacecraft successfully deployed and initiated the first experiment.

"The amateur radio community also has been listening to O/OREOS and giving the operations team important information about the health and status of the spacecraft," Yost added.

"The O/OREOS science team is excited to receive the first real-time measurements from samples onboard two science experiments," said Pascale Ehrenfreund, O/OREOS project scientist at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "This will demonstrate that CubeSat technologies can be used for future missions to address fundamental astrobiology objectives."

Approximately 19 minutes after launch, O/OREOS separated from the Minotaur IV rocket and entered low Earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 400 miles. About three hours after launch, amateur radio operator, Marco Bruno, in Torino, Italy received the first signals from O/OREOS.

After a spacecraft checkout period, O/OREOS autonomously initiated the first of two experiments, which will last approximately six months and transmit data for as long as a year. The second experiment will start on Friday, Nov. 26, 2010.

Now that O/OREOS is activated and has begun transmitting radio signals to ground control stations at Santa Clara University, the nanosatellite will send mission data to the NASA Mission Management and science teams at Ames for analysis.

The STPSat-2 launch was the STP's 26th small launch vehicle mission. The Air Force Space Commands Space and Missile Systems Centers Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland AFB, N.M., has overall management of the STPSat-2 mission.

The Small Spacecraft Division at Ames manages the O/OREOS payload and mission operations with the professional support of staff and students from Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif., in support of the Astrobiology Small Payloads program under the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASAs Headquarters in Washington.

.


Related Links
O/OREOS nanosatellite
Life Beyond Earth
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EXO LIFE
Researchers Kick-Start Ancient DNA
Binghamton NY (SPX) Nov 23, 2010
Binghamton University researchers recently revived ancient bacteria trapped for thousands of years in water droplets embedded in salt crystals. For decades, geologists have looked at these water droplets - called fluid inclusions - and wondered whether microbes could be extracted from them. Fluid inclusions have been found inside salt crystals ranging in age from thousands to hundreds of m ... read more


EXO LIFE
Neptec Wins Canadian Space Agency Contract To Develop A New Generation Of Lunar Rovers

Mission to far side of moon proposed

Mining On The Moon Is A Not-So-Distant Possibility

New Analysis Explains Formation Of Lunar Farside Bulge

EXO LIFE
Opportunity Checks out Intrepid Crater

Shallow Groundwater Reservoirs May Have Been Common On Mars

Earth bacteria could survive on Mars

NASA Mars Rover Images Honor Apollo 12

EXO LIFE
Should We Stay Or Should We Go

Graduation Of Europe's New Astronauts

NASA Administrator Bolden's Statement On International Space Summit

KLM Announces Suborbital Flight Relationship With Space Experience Curacao

EXO LIFE
Condition Of China's Lunar Probe To Determine Future Application

Tasks For Tiangong

China To Launch First Female Astronauts

Two Telescopes For Tiangong

EXO LIFE
Departure Preps For ISS Crew Members

ISS crew to return to Earth early

German Robotic Arm Completes Its Five-Year ISS Mission

ISS Crew Completes Spacewalk

EXO LIFE
45th Space Wing Launches NRO Satellite

FAA issues private spacecraft permit

Ball Aerospace STPSat-2 Satellite Launches Aboard STP-S26 Mission

Ukraine Delivers Taurus II Launch Vehicle's First Stage To US

EXO LIFE
500th 'extrasolar' planet discovered

Planet From Another Galaxy Discovered

First glimpse of a planet from another galaxy

Eartly Dust Tails Point To Alien Worlds

EXO LIFE
Boeing Offers New Surveillance Detection System

Google seeking Miramax films for YouTube: NY Post

Russia To Spend 2 Bln Dollars For Space Clean-Up

Branson launching digital magazine for iPad




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement