Smithsonian Science » National Air and Space Museum

Lifeboat from airships “America” and “Akron” donated to the Smithsonian

John Barrat — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:18:36 +0000

This 1911 photograph shows Kiddo, the first cat to attempt to cross the Atlantic by airship, and Melvin Vaniman, engineer of the airship America. Kiddo was the subject of the first ever wireless radio message sent from an aircraft. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is donating the lifeboat used on two early attempted crossings of the Atlantic by airship to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The earliest attempt was made by the airship America in 1910, and the first wireless message from a powered aircraft was sent from the radio position in the lifeboat. The second attempt was the flight of the Akron, the first Goodyear airship, in 1912. The lifeboat is 27 feet long with a 6-foot beam and is constructed of three thicknesses of mahogany veneer.

NEW ACQUISITION: Remains of William Taylor White (1837-1852) donated to Smithsonian with his coffin and clothing

Book Review: Planetary Tectonics examines otherworldly landforms

John Barrat — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:06:19 +0000

In recent decades, manned and unmanned spacecraft have taken hundreds of thousands of detailed photographs of the terrestrial planets in our solar system, the distant outer planets and various asteroids, comets and planetary satellites. Much of the geology that has emerged from the study of these photographs is spelled out in the new book Planetary Tectonics, edited by Thomas Watters, senior scientist at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and Richard Schultz, Professor of Geological Engineering and Geomechanics at the University of Nevada.

Image right: A moasic photo of part of the Moon’s southern Mare Serenitatis showing wrinkle ridges.

This new book is a primer on the many different surface features that exist on the planets in our solar system, the internal and external forces that created these features and what they reveal about the conditions on the planets where they are found. From the wrinkle ridges of the moon, to the surface grooves of an asteroid or the fracture belts of Venus, Planetary Tectonics is a studious look at the complex interplay of powerful forces that act upon planetary crusts and the mechanical properties of the crusts themselves.

The number and diversity of tectonic landforms in our solar system “is truly remarkable,” Watters and Schultz write in the preface of their book. Photographs of these structures have stimulated a range of scholarly investigations, “from the characterization and modeling of individual classes of tectonic landforms to the assessment of regional and global tectonic systems,” the scientists write. Planetary Tectonics is an overview of the major themes of this research as they relate to each planet and small body. The book contains methods for mapping and analyzing planetary tectonic features and is illustrated with many diagrams and spectacular images. Planetary Tectonics, which is extensively referenced, provides a springboard to other sources of information, and is an essential reference for researchers and students alike. Published by Cambridge University Press, additional information about this new volume can be accessed at the Web address: www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521765732

Smithsonian geophysicist Bruce Campbell explains his work of making a detailed radar map of the Moon

John Barrat — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:45:29 +0000

New Acquisition: Corrective instruments from the Hubble Space Telescope

John Barrat — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:01:34 +0000

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum recently obtained two monumental instruments on loan from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Hubble Space Telescope’s corrective optics space telescope axial replacement, COSTAR, and the Hubble’s wide-field planetary camera WFPC2 are both now on view at the National Air and Space Museum. COSTAR is on display at NASM in the new “Moving Beyond Earth” exhibition and the WFPC2 is on temporary display through January 10 in Space Hall, in front of a full moddle of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Image: The Hubble Space Telescope

Soon after its launch in April 1990, scientist knew something was wrong when they began receiving blurry images from Hubble. After investigation, scientists realized that the main mirror had a “spherical aberration”—a slight but serious distortion on the 8-foot diameter primary mirror that caused the light that reflects off the center of the mirror to focus in a different place than the light reflected near the edge.

In December 1993, shuttle crews installed COSTAR, a box-shaped device with tiny nickel-sized mirrors that intercepted light reflecting off the mirror, cancelling the large main mirror’s flaw. At that time, astronauts also replaced the Wide Field/Planetary Camera with a new version, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). WFPC2 was the first of Hubble’s instruments to have built-in corrective optics.

WFPC2 became the Hubble’s primary instrument, responsible for most of the brilliant new celestial images. A complementary exhibit in Space Hall presents the best of these images.

Image: The HST Wide Field Planetary Camera (Photo by Eric Long).

“COSTAR and WFPC2 represent ingenious applications of optical and mechanical expertise to solve a critical problem,” says David DeVorkin, senior curator of history of astronomy and the space sciences at NASM. “They represent a crisis point in the history of the Hubble telescope itself, one that might have seriously jeopardized the nation’s space program if we were unable to meet the crisis.” After years of service, both of these instruments were replaced during Hubble service missions and brought back to earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of NASA’s most successful and long lasting space missions. With the help of COSTAR and WFPC2, the Hubble has beamed hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth. “COSTAR and WFPC2 are valuable additions to the Smithsonian collection of space science and artifacts,” DeVorkin says.

Image: The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement—COSTAR. (Photo by Eric Long)

Only the future will tell what discoveries await as Hubble’s spectacular vision continues to enlighten scientists.
—Jessica Porter

Julia Child prepares “Primordial Soup” at the Smithsonian

John Barrat — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:56:42 +0000

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum opens new Public Observatory on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

John Barrat — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:27:39 +0000

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has opened a new Public Observatory that contains a 16-inch, 3,000-pound Boller and Chivens telescope, on loan from the Harvard College Observatory. Through this powerful telescope, museum visitors can now observe the sun (with a special filter), the moon and the brighter stars and planets, such as Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, during daylight hours. Funding for the project was provided by the National Science Foundation.

Photo: Air and Space Museum visitors view celestial objects in the daytime sky at the museum’s new Public Observatory on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Eric Long)

The Public Observatory, on the East Terrace of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting. It will also be used for educational programs in combination with live presentations in the museum’s Einstein Planetarium.

“The National Air and Space Museum’s mission is to educate and inspire,” says Gen. J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum. “Looking directly at the sun, moon, planets and stars with a telescope will enable visitors to experience this personal connection with the visible sky and the universe.”

The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W.