TOM JONES

ASTRONAUT SPEAKER

Planetology on “The Space Show” — December 9, 2008

December 9, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

The Space Show hosts me and Dr. Ellen Stofan, my Planetology co-author, tonight for a conversation about the new book. Air time is at 7 PM Pacific, 9 PM central. You can listen at:

Thanks to David Livingston for setting up this opportunity. His show does a great job of treating space topics with depth and insight.

Sedimentary layers in Becquerel Crater illustrate climate cycles on Mars (image -- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA)

Sedimentary layers in Becquerel Crater illustrate climate cycles on Mars (image -- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA)

A sample of the kind of fascinating images from across the solar system found in Planetology.

Filed Under: Space

Planetology Talk — University of Houston, Clear Lake, Jan. 9, 2009

December 9, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

I’m looking forward to discussing with Houstonians my new book, Planetology, at the University of Houston, Clear Lake campus on Friday, Jan. 9 at 7 pm. An event announcement is here. Planetology (Jones and Stofan, National Geographic Books, 2008) appeared in stores on Nov. 18, 2008.

My talk will focus on the how the latest imagery of our family of planets, and the information it contains about the forces that shape the planets, compels us to explore the solar system and establish ourselves on other worlds. The motivation? Knowledge, of course, but more important — survival.

I’ll be signing copies of Planetology (written with my friend and colleague Ellen Stofan) after the talk. Join me for a spectacular visual tour of the worlds that have taught us so much about our own Earth.

Filed Under: Space

Earth Sweeps Up Another Near Earth Object

December 9, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

We have been fortunate this fall to witness the impact of at least three small Near Earth Objects, that of 2008 TC3 in October (burned up over Sudan on October 7), the Canadian fireball of November 20, and this Colorado fireball, which struck on December 6 and burned up high in the atmosphere with a brightness equivalent to 100 full moons:

All-sky camera view of Colorado fireball -- December 6, 2008

All-sky camera view of Colorado fireball -- December 6, 2008

(image — Chris Peterson, Cloudbait Observatory, CO)

The Buzzard Coulee Sasketchewan fireball produced a plentiful meteorite fall, and observers of this Colorado event are searching for fragments from this latest asteroid impact.

News reports commented on how both the Sasketchewan and Colorado fireballs (and meteorite falls) went unpredicted by “NASA”, as if the space agency were on the lookout.  Although NASA is completing its search for NEOs larger than 1 km in diameter, detection of objects this small (roughly a meter or two in diameter) is completely a matter of luck. 2008 TC3 was picked up just a day from impact, because it happened to be in the field of view of one of the NASA-funded NEO search telescopes. But there is no systematic search for asteroid fragments this small (which detonate with the energy of several hundred tons of TNT).

The National Research Council is commencing this month a study of how NASA might extend the search for NEOs to smaller diameters (about 140 meters across, in the latest Congressional direction) and analyze options for deflecting such hazardous bodies. Rusty Schweickart, my colleague at the Association of Space Explorers NEO Committee, has just completed briefing UN ambassadors in Vienna, and will testify before the NRC study team later this week. Our ASE effort is aimed at the international adoption of a decision-making program to deal with future, and potentially destructive, asteroid threats.

Read more about the NEO hazard at my website, under “Planetary Science.”

Filed Under: Space

Praise for Planetology — USA Today

December 6, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

On Wed., December 3, USA Today published a half-page of recommendations on spectacular science books for the Christmas season. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the readers and budding astronomers on your list, consider what the paper said about Planetology:

Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System

Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System

“Astronomy always provides some of science’s most stunning images, and Planetology delivers the goods. More than a rundown of the diminished solar system, with Pluto and its brothers banished to “dwarf” status, the book delves into the forces, asteroid impacts, volcanism and erosion that sculpted Martian dunes, Mercury’s craters and Titan’s lakes. The book finishes with some speculation on the “Planetary Zoo” worlds orbiting nearby stars. “The holy grail of exoplanet searches is an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone around its star,” the authors write.

Check out Planetology at a nearby bookstore, and let me hear what you think.

Filed Under: Space

Space Shuttle Endeavour — Success on STS-126

December 6, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

Liz and I attended the launch of space shuttle mission STS-126 on November 14, 2008. This resupply and repair flight to the International Space Station (which I had visited with my STS-98 crew in 2001) took on an ambitious array of tasks, from installation of interior facilities for expansion of the ISS crew to 6, to a complicated repair of the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), the ferris-wheel-like joint that allows the right side solar array to swivel like a paddle wheel to track the sun.

The launch itself came on Friday night the 14th at 7:55 pm, EST, into a clear, calm night sky. A high layer of cirrus was backlit by a nearly full Moon. I’ve seen night launches before, but never one this dramatic. Endeavour lit up the Cape in a flickering, orange-yellow glow, even as the sound from the shuttle’s boosters smacked across the press site and shook the Vehicle Assembly Building across the road. A minute into the flight, supersonic, Endeavour tore through that high cirrus layer like an incandescent needle through canvas. As the shuttle’s shock cone pierced the clouds, it spread a widening ripple in the layer of ice crystals, revealing the black sky above. The hole blown through the Moon-lit cirrus layer brought gasps of awe from all of us on the ground!

Endeavour launches at the start of STS-126 (NASA)

Endeavour launches at the start of STS-126 (NASA)

By the time their 15 days of work were done, the Endeavour crew had put the damaged joint back into operation, and upgraded the living space with a water recycling system that can even turn waste humidity and urine into potable water. Well done to the STS-126 crew, and thanks for a spectacular departure I’ll never forget. It was almost as beautiful as my last flight! Compare for yourself in Sky Walking…

Filed Under: Space

Stellar “Planetology” Review

November 5, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

Science writer and “Spacewriter” Carolyn Petersen, co-editor of “The New Solar System,” has just published a kind review of Planetology. Carolyn tells us that…

“…this is the book I would have written if I were tasked to bring the beauty and excitement about planetary studies to a broad audience.…I’m in awe at the work that Jones and Stofan put in on it.”

Read the entire review at The Spacewriter’s Ramblings. It’s great early buzz for co-author Ellen Stofan and our new book.

planetology_web_version

The book will be released on November 18, but you can order now.

Filed Under: Space

Planetology: About To Enter Orbit

October 16, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

My new book with Ellen Stofan, Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System, will debut in stores on November 18. It’s already available for order online.

Here’s the National Geographic Books press release:

CONTACT: Penelope Dackis

(202) 857-7335 pdackis@ngs.org

PLANETOLOGY: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

A Stunning, Completely New View of the Planets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON (Sept. 22, 2008)—Veteran astronaut and planetary scientist Tom Jones and noted planetary geologist Ellen Stofan join forces and use the latest space technology to reveal astonishing new insights into the dynamic stories of Earth and its celestial neighbors. PLANETOLOGY: UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM (National Geographic Books, ISBN: 978-1-4262-0121-9, Nov. 18, 2008, $35 hardcover) presents compelling new images of Earth—many captured by space shuttle and space station crew members—and remarkable scenes of alien surfaces beamed home by our far-ranging robotic probes, from the international fleet of spacecraft on and around Mars to the Cassini Saturn mission. These striking images, viewed side by side, show us the powerful forces that have shaped our own planet, and inform humanity’s age-old quest for other worlds like our own.

PLANETOLOGY contains remarkable visual evidence of the natural processes that have shaped the varied planetary landscapes in our solar system: searing lava plains, windswept deserts, active volcanoes, jagged mountains, majestic glaciers and stark impact craters. Readers discover the details behind the solar system’s largest volcano, Mars’ “dry ice” polar caps, and the on-going threat of comet and asteroid collisions with Earth.

A comprehensive new portrait of the solar system unfolds in PLANETOLOGY. The authors bring a fresh approach to the study of space science and illustrate clearly how discovery of dramatic features of other planets give us crucial information about our own. Engaging text, highlighted with personal experiences from space flights and robotic exploratory missions, make this book just as absorbing as it is informative.

Tom Jones is a planetary scientist, author, pilot and veteran NASA astronaut. He flew on four space shuttle missions and led three space walks to help his crew install the centerpiece of the International Space Station. He has written “Hell Hawks!,” “Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to NASA.” Ellen Stofan is a planetary geologist who has studied volcanic and tectonic features on Venus, Mars, Titan, and Earth. While at NASA, she was Chief Scientist on the New Millennium Program and is currently Senior Research Scientist at Proxemy Research, and Honorary Professor of Earth Sciences at University College London.

Ellen Stofan and I have our preview copies in hand, and the book is spectacular. We hope you’ll grab a copy in time for Christmas. Planetology will be a perfect gift for anyone with an interest in our place in the solar system and universe.

Filed Under: Space

Latest articles from Astronaut Tom Jones

October 16, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

October has been a productive month for getting some of my interests into print. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics publishes “Aerospace America” every month, and in October my “View from Here” column appeared. My topic was dealing with the impact hazard from Near Earth Objects: 2008 TC3 collided with Earth on October 7th, making my report on the need for a decision-making agreement to deal with a future rogue asteroid a timely one. You can read Asteroid Deflection: Planning for the Inevitable online and in the October issue of Aerospace America.

Speaking of 2008 TC3, I reported on its collision with Earth and the need to prepare for a future rogue asteroid in Why the World Needs Asteroid Insurance: Resident Astronaut on Popular Mechanics‘ web site, October 9, 2008. Keep an eye out for my continuing space comments at their site.

My article on the early space race and the US effort to put a man in space, Mercury Rising, appeared in Invention and Technology‘s fall 2008 issue. I interviewed Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter for the article, which is beautifully illustrated with mission photos and developmental drawings of the Mercury design. I’ll post a pdf version of the article shortly at my website, AstronautTomJones.com.

All of these intriguing topics are sure to be featured in my upcoming astronaut speaker talks, and I’ll post my upcoming appearances in a future entry here at Flight Notes.

Filed Under: History, Space

Small NEO strikes Earth early on Oct. 7, 2008

October 7, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

A small asteroid, 2008 TC3, entered Earth’s atmosphere last night, October 6, at 10:46 pm EDT (October 7, 0246 UTC). The rock, 1-5 meters in diameter, burned up harmlessly over northern Sudan. The crew of a KLM jetliner about 750 miles away reported seeing the flash from the fireball, which released about a kiloton of explosive energy into the atmosphere. No damage was expected on the ground.

Such fireballs, or bolides, enter Earth’s atmosphere routinely. What marked this Near Earth Object‘s demise was that it was detected and its entry predicted through the efforts of the Spaceguard Survey team in Tucson, AZ. Warning time was a mere 24 hours or so, and there are hundreds of thousands of such objects, bigger than about 40 m (large enough to strike the surface) trooping through the inner solar system within reach of Earth’s orbit. We know of only 5600 or so of these Near Earth Objects. As our telescopes get better, we’ll be finding thousands more, and of those, a few dozen will be found to pose an uncomfortably high probability of hitting Earth with enough force to cause damage to lives or property.

To address that unseen but certain threat, the Near Earth Object Committee of the Association of Space Explorers submitted a report, prepared by its Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation, to the United Nations on Sep. 25, 2008. The Panel proposes a decision-making process to deal with threatening asteroids for adoption by the international community, working through the existing structures of the United Nations.

An excerpt of that report is available at the Association of Space Explorer site, here. As a member of the Committee, I worked with the Panel through its two years of deliberations, ending in the delivery of the report last month. Now it’s up to the United Nations and the world’s peoples to prepare for some future asteroid strike, potentially much more dangerous than the harmless light show put on by 2008 TC3.

Video of 2008 TC3 here:

An earlier video of an Australian fireball:

NASA diagram of 2008 TC3 impact trajectory.

Meteosat 8 image of fireball

Meteosat 8 image of fireball (Image credit: Zdenek Charvat, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute)

Filed Under: Space

October Sky Festival: Coalwood with Homer Hickam

October 7, 2008 By TOM JONES Leave a Comment

Last Saturday, October 4, I was a guest in Coalwood, WV, at the 10th annual October Sky Festival, hosted by Coalwood citizens and best-selling author Homer Hickam. The day was blessed with beautiful early autumn weather: temperatures about 70 under a cloudless blue sky. The forested ridges surrounding the little town (population, 180, down from 2000 sixty years ago) where Homer grew up were brushed lightly with the first traces of yellow, orange, and rust-red. The mining town’s main street was lined with art and craft vendors, food stalls, and plenty of happy families.

Along with Homer’s boyhood pals, I participated in a series of model rocket launches just after lunch at “Cape Coalwood,” where Homer and the Rocket Boys once lofted their home-built missiles. Most of Saturday’s rockets managed to parachute back into the former mining dump site without damage, although the surrounding tall trees claimed a few reentering vehicles.

Homer’s latest book is Red Helmet, and he always had a line out front of the Methodist Church for signing. My table was on the church’s front lawn, where I signed copies of Hell Hawks! and Sky Walking through the day. With both my grandfathers having worked in the coal mines of Wilkes-Barre, PA, my visit to Coalwood was a glimpse into their lives 75 years ago. For a day, at least, I could trace a direct path from the mines to the stars. Plan on visiting the October Sky Festival in 2009.

Rocket launches at Cape Coalwood (credit D. Kilpatrick)

Rocket launches at Cape Coalwood (credit D. Kilpatrick)

Signing "Sky Walking" and "Hell Hawks!" at Coalwood (D. Kilpatrick)

Signing "Sky Walking" and "Hell Hawks!" (credit -- D. Kilpatrick)

Coalwood Main -- October Sky Festival (credit D. Kilpatrick)

Coalwood Main -- October Sky Festival (credit D. Kilpatrick)

Filed Under: Space

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