Volume 37, Issue 4 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org January / February 2012 First Confirmation: Planet Kepler-22b HubbleAn Revisited Earth-Like Exoplanet on NASA’s in a Habitable 50th Anniversary Zone Wes Kelly, Triton Systems LLC AIAA Houston Section Horizons January / February 2012 Page 1 January / February 2012 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S (Page numbers are linked on this page. To return here, click on tops of pages.) From the Chair 3 HOUSTON From the Editor 4 Horizons is a bimonthly publication of the Houston Section Cover Story: Kepler-22b, by Wes Kelly, Triton Systems LLC 5 of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A Peek at Cassini After Seven Years in Orbit, by Daniel R. Adamo 14 Douglas Yazell Sustainable Use of Space Through Orbital Debris Control, by N. L. Johnson 18 Editor Past Editors: Dr. Steven E. Everett 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport 19 Editing team: Don Kulba, Ellen Gillespie, Robert Bere- mand, Alan Simon, Dr. Steven Everett, Shen Ge Isle of Man - An Excellent Space for Space, by Shen Ge 20 Regular contributors: Dr. Steven Everett, Don Kulba, Philippe Mairet, Alan Simon, Scott Lowther From our French Sister Section 3AF MP, Biodiversity and Light Pollution 22 Contributors this issue: Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV, Daniel R. Adamo, Wes Kelly Warp Drives: A Curious History, by Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV 26 AIAA Houston Section Phobos-Grunt’s Inexorable Trans-Mars Injection Countdown Clock, Adamo 30 Executive Council Phoenix-E, by Scott Lowther, Aerospace Projects Review 40 Sean Carter EAA Chapter 12 (Houston), The Experimental Aircraft Association 43 Chair Councilors Current Events 44 Daniel Nobles Irene Chan Chair-Elect Secretary Staying Informed 46 Sarah Shull John Kostrzewski AIAA Calendar 50 Past Chair Treasurer Cranium Cruncher 51 Julie Read Dr. Satya Pilla Vice-Chair, Operations Vice-Chair, Technical Section News 52 Operations Technical List of AIAA Conference Papers by AIAA Houston Section Members 54 Dr. Gary Turner Dr. Albert A. Jackson IV Shen Ge Bebe Kelly-Serrato The Back Cover: ISS Expedition 31 56 Melissa Gordon Dr. Zafar Taqvi Lisa Voiles Bill Atwell Horizons and AIAA Houston Web Site AIAA National Communications Award Winner Rafael Munoz Sheikh Ahsan Svetlana Hanson William West Michael Frostad Paul Nielson Dr. Benjamin Longmier Dr. Steven E. Everett Matthew Easterly Gary Brown Douglas Yazell Dr. Kamlesh Lulla Gary Cowan Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier Joel Henry Alan Sisson 2005 2006 2007 Ellen Gillespie This newsletter is created by members of the Houston section. Opinions expressed herein other than Brian Banker by elected Houston section officers belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily represent the Matt Johnson position of AIAA or the Houston section. Unless explicitly stated, in no way are the comments of Clay Stangle individual contributors to Horizons to be construed as necessarily the opinion or position of AIAA, Melissa Kronenberger NASA, its contractors, or any other organization. All articles in Horizons, unless otherwise noted, Sarah Barr are the property of the individual contributors. Reproduction/republishing in any form except lim- Donald Barker ited excerpts with attribution to the source, will require the express approval of the individual au- Shirley Brandt thors. Please address all newsletter correspondence to editor-in-chief “at” aiaa-houston.org. Holly Feldman Gabe Garrett Cover: Planet Kepler 22-b. Image credits: NASA. Source: NASA press confer- www.aiaa-houston.org ence of December 5, 2011. Venus transit: Image credit and source: http:// blog.urbansedlar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/800px- 20040608_Venus_Transit.jpg. AIAA Houston Section Horizons January / February 2012 Page 2 Page 3 Events on the Horizon From the Chair SEAN CARTER, CHAIR Both NASA and the Johnson detailed at: http:// Space Center in Florida. Its Space Center community find strategicplan.jsc.nasa.gov/. intention will be to success- themselves at a turning point fully dock the first 100% in our history. Last year As the AIAA Houston Sec- commercially designed and marked the retirement of the tion moves into this bold new built US Spacecraft to the much-heralded Space Shuttle future together we are com- International Space Station Program and the abrupt can- mitted to meeting the exciting and, in that moment, usher in cellation of the Constellation new challenges and opportu- the dawn of a new era in com- program. These changes nities. mercializing low earth orbit. meant significant layoffs to our JSC community and many In March, we will be hearing more changes ahead. Many from the principal architect of were left confused and pessi- the JSC Strategic Plan, Dr. mistic about the future of hu- Douglas Terrier. Later in man space flight exploration. March, AIAA will host its Congressional Visits Day on Throughout the summer and Capitol Hill. In April we’ll fall of 2011 JSC Center Di- again host the AIAA Region rector, Mr. Michael Coats, IV Student Paper Competition and his staff were aggressive- aimed at inspiring human ly working to study this new exploration in space within environment and chart a new our Region IV universities. strategic course for JSC. Last Finally, in May, we are set to www.aiaa-houston.org month (January 2012), Mr. host the AIAA Annual Tech- Coats unveiled his new JSC nical Symposium. Strategic Implementation Plan that lays out the 4 JSC Strate- Lastly, likely before summer gic Goals and the success 2012, SpaceX plans to launch factors required to accomplish a historic mission where its those goals. Those goals can Dragon Rider will launch on be seen below and are further the Falcon 9 from Kennedy AIAA Houston Section Horizons January / February 2012 Page 3 Page 4 From the Editor Climate Change, Confirmation Bias & Horizons DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR Climate change is addressed gist Jonathan Haidt from the Link to that video presenta- by presentations at national University of Virginia, author tion as seen on PBS: AIAA events. At our recent of the forthcoming book, The dinner meeting (our cover Righteous Mind. http://billmoyers.com/ story two issues ago), Con- segment/jonathan-haidt- gressman Olson stated that “Reasoning and Google can explains-our-contentious- NASA should be ordered to take you wherever you want culture/ stop climate monitoring be- to go.” is a quote from the cause, he said, that work is book. We all exhibit confir- NASA’s Kepler spacecraft redundant. mation bias. Once we make a continues to inspire with its claim, we stop seeking sup- exoplanet discoveries. Wes The NASA Alumni League port for it as soon as we find Kelly of Triton Systems LLC Johnson Space Center Chap- one nugget of evidence in our authors our cover story about ter (NAL-JSC) is tackling the favor. Reason is reliable only planet Kepler-22b. climate change controversy in diverse groups where our by fostering a local study reasoning can be challenged Thanks as always to our group, open to AIAA mem- by people we like and re- many contributors. I am late bers, that will focus on avail- spect. Only in those cases with my contributions this E-mail: able empirical data. Charts will truth emerge. In recent time as we work to meet our editor-in-chief [at] from recent presentations at years we rarely spend time in bimonthly schedule. With aiaa-houston.org their events are here: such groups. luck, I can do this for another year starting July 1, 2012. We Our web site www.aiaa- www.nal-jsc.org. One of Professor Haidt’s two always seek new members houston.org includes Horizons main messages in this inter- for our Horizons team, and back issues to 2005 or earlier. Months after the NAL-JSC view is, “Stop demonizing one day a new editor will be For earlier issues (an incom- events, I watched an episode the other side.” needed. plete archive being slowly of Moyers & Company on updated): https://info.aiaa.org/ Public Broadcasting System Moyers on Haidt: “His ideas Regions/SC/Houston/ (PBS) TV with Bill Moyers are controversial, but he Newsletters/Forms/ interviewing social psycholo- makes you think.” AllItems.aspx. Above: Image Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/ Above: Responding to public demand, NASA Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring. Image scientists created a companion image to the source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/ wildly popular 'Blue Marble' released last imagegallery/image_feature_2159.html week (January 25, 2012). Credit: NASA/NOAA AIAA Houston Section Horizons January / February 2012 Page 4 Page 5 Planet Kepler 22-b: An Historic Discovery Kepler-22b WES KELLY, TRITON SYSTEMS LLC Finally, we’ve got one: an is to find what percentage of p. a8). Whether the Sun-like extra-solar planet (an ex- stars in our galaxy host Earth- stars are Main Sequence stars oplanet) in a habitable zone like planets in thermally hab- in general or perhaps more (the green zone in the cover itable zones. But the estimate narrowly defined as spectral illustration) near to Earth in needs to be drawn from sta- type “G”, the inference is that size. By the time this article is tistical study of planets of a there could be billions of published, we expect signifi- variety of sizes and distances such worlds in our galaxy. cant additions to the Kepler from their stars. The Kepler With the January 2012 Amer- Observatory planetary detec- team defined “super-Earths” ican Astronomical Society tion list. But at this writing as extra-solar planets with conference in session in Aus- (January 2012), with some diameters up to twice Earth’s tin, presenters from the Space deserved fanfare, but not the diameter. Neptune has a di- Telescope Institute were esti- fanfare which centuries of ameter about four times that mating 100 billion planets in speculation and decades of of Earth’s and in the Solar the Milky Way Galaxy.