NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Becomes Closest Human Made Object to Sun in History

Parker Solar Probe, shown in this animation, became the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun on Oct. 29, 2018, when it passed within 26.55 million miles (43 million km) of the Sun’s surface. Credit:  NASA/JHUAPL

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   30 October 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – In a truly groundbreaking feat, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the closest human-made object to the Sun in history on Monday, when it plunged passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about 1:04 p.m. EDT.

”Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object,” NASA announced in a statement released Oct 29.

Parker smashed through the existing 42 years old record set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft back in April 1976 - and will continue setting astounding new records over the course of its seven year mission as it dives ever closer.

Indeed the first solar perihelion encounter (the point closest to the Sun)  period begins on Halloween, Oct 31, followed by closest solar approach on Nov. 5 at about 10:28 p.m. EST.

Eventually she will swing by the sun within a final close approach of 3.83 million miles in 2024 while soaring by at a record-breaking speed of nearly 500,000 MPH.

“It’s been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we’ve now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history,” said Project Manager Andy Driesman, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. 

“It’s a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter, which begins on Oct. 31.”  

At about the same time Parker plunged to the record-breaking solar distance in history, it also broke the speed record for a human-man object.

“Parker Solar Probe is also expected to break the record for fastest spacecraft traveling relative to the Sun on Oct. 29 at about 10:54 p.m. EDT. The current record for heliocentric speed is 153,454 miles per hour, set by Helios 2 in April 1976.”

Illustration of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the Sun.  Credits: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

To accomplish this unprecedented task Parker will encounter and must survive brutal heat and radiation conditions.

The mission was only enabled by the development of a state-of-the-art heat shield to protect the spacecraft. The sun facing side will reach temperatures of 2500 degrees F, while the other side facing the spacecraft and all its systems and science instruments will experience temperatures of only about 85 degrees F.

Why travel so close to the sun?

Parker will provide “humanity with unprecedentedly close-up observations of a star and helping us understand phenomena that have puzzled scientists for decades.”

“These observations will add key knowledge to NASA’s efforts to understand the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds.”

The mission will conduct 7 Venus flyby’s to set up 24 perihelion close encounters with the sun through 2024. The Venus flyby’s will precisely set its trajectory toward the Sun and slow the probe down instead of speeding it up.

The probe recently snapped a glorious view looking back home to all humanity as it continues diving towards its first close encounter with the Sun.

The view from Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument on Sept. 25, 2018, shows Earth, the bright sphere near the middle of the right-hand panel. The elongated mark toward the bottom of the panel is a lens reflection from the WISPR instrument.
Credits: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe

The magnificent view of the ‘Earth from Space’ – seen below - was snapped from a distance of 27 million miles (43 million km) from her Home Planet as the spacecraft was speeding to its first flyby of the Planet Venus setting up the trajectory for the 1^st close flyby of the Sun.

A close-up of Earth from WISPR's Sept. 25, 2018, image shows what appears to be a bulge on our planet’s right side — this is the Moon.  Credits: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe

“On Sept. 25, 2018, Parker Solar Probe captured a view of Earth as it sped toward the first Venus gravity assist of the mission,” NASA announced in a statement.

The $1 Billion mission began with a dazzling middle-of-the-night blastoff of the mighty Delta IV Heavy rocket in the wee hours of the morning, Aug. 12 – and delivered the car sized spacecraft to its intended trajectory towards Venus and the Sun.

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun and dive into the corona, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, at 3:31 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. From camera at pad. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The 23-story tall triple barreled United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket successfully launched at 3:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 12 from the Florida Space Coast and put on a brilliant display of fire power with 2.1 million pounds of thrust spewing forth from the trio of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen RS-68A main engines that quickly turned night into day a few hours before the natural sunrise under nearly cloud-free skies. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Parker Solar Probe Mission Trajectory Map on Oct. 29, 2018. Credit: NASA/JHU

With Opportunity Rover Silent Over 4 Months, NASA Focuses on InSight Mars Landing in 4 Weeks

This pre-dust storm panoramic mosaic view was one of the last ones taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover and shows the spectacular view from her approximate current position as of June 2018 after traveling halfway down the fluid carved slope of Perseverance Valley - while peeing into the interior of vast Endeavour Crater.  This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled by Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo from raw images taken on Sol 5074  (3 May 2018) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   29 October 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –   With the famous but aged solar-powered Opportunity Mars rover “still silent” over 4 months after a global dust storm interrupted all communications, NASA is focusing resources on the imminent arrival of InSight - its next Red Planet mission scheduled to land in 4 weeks – just days after Thanksgiving.

“No word back from Mars from Opportunity,” NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green told Space UpClose today Oct. 29 in an up to the minute report – confirming the unfortunate reality of continuing dead silence.

Not a chirp has been heard from the nearly 15 year old gold cart-sized Red Planet robot since the last signal – and sign of life - was received on June 10.  

“Still No Signal From Opportunity” the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) team - which manages the mission for NASA - wrote in the latest mission status update. 

Thus NASA is marshalling its forces towards InSight - speeding to Mars and a ‘do or die’ landing on Nov. 26. There are no second chances or scrub turnarounds. 

“We have to turn our attention soon to safely landing InSight,” Green told me.  

“That has to be our top priority!” 

NASA is maximizing the chances for a successful touchdown of this crucial mission which will listen for the ‘heartbeat’ of the Red Planet.

Artist's rendering annotated of the NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander on Mars launched on May 5, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.  Credits: NASA

Simultaneously NASA is not forgetting about Opportunity – will also keep listening for signals because a potentially favorable “windy period on Mars -- known to Opportunity's team as "dust-clearing season" -- occurs in the November-to-January time frame and has helped clean the rover's panels in the past.”

“After a review of the progress of the listening campaign, NASA will continue its current strategy for attempting to make contact with the Opportunity rover for the foreseeable future. Winds could increase in the next few months at Opportunity's location on Mars, resulting in dust being blown off the rover's solar panels. The agency will reassess the situation in the January 2019 time frame,” NASA said in a new statement issued today.

Opportunity rover looks south from the top of Perseverance Valley along the rim of Endeavour Crater on Mars in this partial self portrait including the rover deck and solar panels. Perseverance Valley descends from the right and terminates down near the crater floor. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 4736 (20 May 2017) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The global Martian dust storm that gradually encircled the Red Planet started in late May whipping up dust that blocked Opportunity’s solar arrays from generating power and charging the life-giving batteries - thereby cutting off all communications with Earth from the essentially dead robot.

Meanwhile the dust finally began to subside in September when NASA began an active listening campaign scheduled to last 45 days.  NASA has now extended the sweep and beep campaign while giving “top priority’ to ensuring a successful InSight touchdown.

Thus the question is can she rise from the dead like Lazarus and ‘phone home’? Or is she permanently silenced?

No one knows.

Furthermore Opportunity’s current health is unknown as is the amount of accumulated dust on the solar panels. 

The team has been listening and send signals regularly and multiple times per day - a  process known as ‘sweep and beep’ - hoping the six wheeled robot will wake up. 

“JPL engineers are employing a combination of listening and commanding methods in case Opportunity is still operational,” NASA said in a statement. 

“It's possible that a layer of dust deposited on the rover's solar panels by the recent global dust storm is blocking sunlight that could recharge its batteries. No one can tell just how much dust has been deposited on its panels.”

NASA's Opportunity rover appears as a blip in the center of this square. This image taken on Sept. 20, 2018 by HiRISE, a high-resolution camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the dust storm over Perseverance Valley has substantially cleared. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

The only good news is that NASA’s long-lived Opportunity rover finally emerged as a tiny blip in a new view taken from orbit as the global Martian dust storm that encircled the Red Planet and cut off all communications with Earth since June, gradually subsides.  The view has clarified just enough for the golf cart sized robot to at last be seen again. 

The HiRISE image, shown herein, was captured from Mars orbit on Sept. 20, 2018 from an altitude of about 166 miles (267 kilometers) above the Martian surface. The white box marks a 154-foot-wide (47-meter-wide) area centered on the rover which is barely noticeable as a small whitish splotch against the dark red contours of the Red Planet. 

When the massive planet-encircling dust storm hit Opportunity had been descending down and exploring Perseverance Valley located along the eroded western rim of the gigantic 22-km diameter (14 mi) impact crater named Endeavour. 

The long lived robot was launched in 2003, landed in 2004 and has been making breakthrough science and exploration discoveries regarding flowing liquid water and habitable environments potentially conducive to life on Mars ever since during its utterly remarkable 14.5-year-long overland trek across the 4th planet from the sun.

By June 10 the dust storm grew so enormously that it covered more than 15.8 million square miles (41 million square kilometers) – about the area of North America and Russia combined.   

This set of images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a fierce dust storm kicking up on Mars in June 2018, with NASA’s Opportunity and Curiosity rovers on the surface indicated as icons.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSS

It blocked out so much sunlight that it effectively turned day into night for Opportunity, which is located near the center of the storm, inside Mars' Perseverance Valley.

Because the solar powered Opportunity rover charges her batteries, instruments and heaters via sunlight impinging on her solar arrays, No sunlight means no production of electrical power to run her systems and subsystems. 

Although Opportunity was only warrantied for “90 Sols” of operation, it was enjoying its 15^th year of continuous operations on the frigid alien world – until the dust storm!

“Perseverance Valley” is an ancient fluid-carved valley “possibly water-cut” that could hold groundbreaking clues to the potential origin and evolution of life on Mars – if it ever existed.

NASA’s Opportunity rover acquired this Martian panoramic view from a promontory that overlooks Perseverance Valley below – scanning from north to south. It is centered on due East and into the interior of Endeavour crater. Perseverance Valley descends from the right and terminates down near the crater floor in the center of the panorama. The far rim of Endeavour crater is seen in the distance, beyond the dark floor. Rover deck and wheel tracks at right. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 4730 (14 May 2017) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

As of today October 29, 2018, long lived Opportunity has survived or experienced over 5250 Sols (or Martian days) roving the harsh environment of the Red Planet. 

Opportunity has taken over 228,771 images and traversed over 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) - more than a marathon. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

14 Year Traverse Map for NASA’s Opportunity rover from 2004 to 2018. This map shows the entire 45 kilometer (28 mi) path the rover has driven on the Red Planet during over 14.5 Earth years (7.5 Mars years) and more than a marathon runners distance for over 5250 Sols, or Martian days, since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan 24, 2004 – to current location at Perseverance Valley at the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover reached Perseverance Valley in May 2017 and descended about halfway by June 2018.  Its likely a water carved Martian gully. Opportunity surpassed Marathon distance on Sol 3968 after reaching 11th Martian anniversary on Sol 3911. Opportunity discovered clay minerals at Esperance – indicative of a habitable zone – and searched for more at Marathon Valley. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

NASA, Northrop Grumman Deep into Re-Planning Cygnus Launch Manifest After Soyuz Crew Launch Failure

Northrop Grumman built Cygnus NG-10 cargo spacecraft is prepped inside darkened clean room High Bay facility at NASA Wallops with range finding lights illuminated to aid station astronauts verify the correct attitude and position on approach in space.  It was named in honor of NASA astronaut and Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young on Oct. 24, 2018.  Blastoff on Antares rocket is slated for Nov. 15, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   28 October 2018

NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA –  NASA and Northrop Grumman are deep into “re-planning” the optimum "cargo content" of the next unpiloted Cygnus resupply mission launching  to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-November - in the wake of the Soyuz crew launch failure emergency earlier this month from Kazakhstan, explained former Astronaut Rick Mastracchio at NASA’s Virginia launch base.

Northrop Grumman is giving NASA the “flexibility they need” to change and optimize the manifest ahead of the planned Nov. 15 launch of the Cygnus NG-10 supply ship slated to deliver over 3.7 tons of science and supplies to the reduced crew of 3 living aboard the orbiting research laboratory. 

The “flexibility” comes in response to the aborted Soyuz MS-10 flight carrying a Russian-American crew that unexpectedly ended prematurely but safely some 34 minutes after liftoff on Oct. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

“One of the new twists is that with the failure of the Soyuz launch vehicle last week, we are trying to give NASA as much flexibility as possible,” said Rick Mastracchio, former NASA astronaut and 4 time space flyer and current senior director of Commercial Resupply Services for Northrop Grumman, during a media event on Oct. 24 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility attended by news media including Space UpClose. See our photos herein.

"NASA is in a re-planning phase to determine what is the right gear? What is the right equipment to send up to the space station?” 

“Cygnus is all about science and utilization for the International Space Station.”

Time is of the essence with a spectacular nighttime blastoff now less than three weeks away for Northrop Grumman’s 10^th contracted cargo mission to the station – and taking place from NASA’s Virginia launch base located within viewing distance of America’s biggest population centers.

Mastracchio made the remarks at the dedication ceremony where Cygnus was named in honor of Apollo 16 moonwalker and six time NASA astronaut space flyer John Young - inside the H-100 cleanroom High Bay processing facility at NASA Wallops on Virginia’s eastern shore. 

Former NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio announces Northrop Grumman built Cygnus NG-10 cargo spacecraft being prepped inside clean room High Bay facility at NASA Wallops is named in honor NASA astronaut and Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young on Oct. 24, 2018.  Blastoff on Antares rocket is slated for Nov. 15, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

The newly christened Cygnus S.S. John Young NG-10 cargo freighter is currently scheduled to launch aboard the company's upgraded Antares 230 version rocket on Thursday November 15 at 4:49 a.m. EDT from seaside pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  

Some items on the Cygnus manifest will change from what had been planned prior to the Soyuz mishap, Mastracchio told me. 

“We are working closely with NASA to give them flexibility and give them the capability to launch any important gear and equipment that has to go to the ISS based on that failure,” Mastracchio stated.  

“So we are working closely with NASA to give them that capability.” 

The automatic abort system of the extremely reliable Soyuz booster kicked in exactly as it was designed to in a split second – and saved the lives of Soyuz MS-10 crew launch comprising NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin who planned to spend 6 months aboard the International Space Station as members of the Expedition 57 crew.

Northrop Grumman Antares rockets being processed for launch inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF). Booster assembly at right slated for Nov. 15, 2018 launch from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Mastracchio is well acquainted with Cygnus prior to joining Northrop Grumman in June 2017. 

During his NASA astronaut career Mastracchio served as a long duration ISS crew member during Expeditions 38 & 39 from Nov. 2013 to May 2014 for 187 days and launching aboard a Soyuz capsule- during which time the Cygnus Orb-1 vehicle arrived at the station delivering 2,780 pounds (1,261 kilograms) of cargo on Jan 12, 2014 following NASA Wallops blastoff on Jan. 9, 2014. 

“The first launch of Cygnus I saw was actually from on orbit of the Orb-1 mission five years ago, as a NASA astronaut while serving on the ISS.”

“I was so impressed that I actually decided to join this team about a year ago.”

Wide view of Cygnus spaceship for NG-10 resupply flight during media day inside Northrop Grumman cleanroom processing facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, VA. Named in honor of Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young by former astronaut Rick Mastracchio. Cygnus slated for launch with 3.7 tons cargo to ISS for NASA on Nov. 15, 2018 atop Antares rocket. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

As part of their “flexible” approach the Northrop Grumman Cygnus team also modified their processing procedures to prepare the spacecraft for the Nov. 15 launch.

Cygnus is comprised of two separately built major pieces that have to be joined together at NASA Wallops to make a unified spaceship - a pressurized cargo module (PCM) manufactured by Thales Alenia in Italy and a service module (SM)  manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Dulles, VA. 

“We did change the processing timeline in terms of preparing the Cygnus vehicle,” Mastracchio elaborated. 

“We are trying to give NASA the flexibility to change things.”  

“So we just mated the pressurized PCM to the service module.” 

“We had delayed that in case NASA wanted to change something in the initial load. But NASA came back and said no changes to the initial load now.  But we are going to want to make changes in the final loads of cargo.” 

The PCM has a pressurized volume of 26.2 cubic meters. 

What guidance has NASA given related to the cargo changes? Anything specific I asked. 

"We do know that the cargo content will be changing – but so far we haven’t changed anything specific yet and NASA will let us know soon.”

“So far we haven’t changed the manifest yet.” 

How will this NG-10 mission profile differ from the prior NG-9 mission launched this past spring in May 2018?

“In general this mission NG-10 is very similar to the last one, the 9^th Cygnus,” Mastracchio replied.

“Obviously the cargo and supplies varies a bit from mission to mission depending on NASA’s needs.”

“The big difference here is we might be sending up equipment to deal with the Soyuz failure.  Clearly there are different science experiments going up now.” 

“We load the last cargo about three days before launch.”

Cygnus is then encapsulated in the payload fairing already waiting in the Wallops Horizontal Integration Facility and integrated with the Antares rocket. The rocket is then rolled out to the launch pad.

Cygnus NG-10 spaceship will be encapsulated inside the payload fairing (nose cone) in the Horizontal Integration Facility after completing cargo load and then integrated with Northrop Grumman Antares rocket. Blastoff slated for Nov. 15, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the ISS.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Cygnus will be loaded with cargo up to 3,450 kg (7,605 lb.) comprising science experiments, research gear, food, water, spare parts, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to support the Expedition 57 and 58 crews.

“We are on target to launch Antares and Cygnus on Nov. 15 at this time,” Kurt Eberly, Antares program manager Northrop Grumman VP, told Space UpClose in an interview during the Cygnus dedication event at NASA Wallops on Oct. 24.

“Of course it always depends on NASA’s requirements which can change.”

“We are looking to have another good launch on Nov. 15 at 4:49 am, the beginning of a 5 minute launch window.” 

Up Close Look inside the payload fairing that will encapsulate the Cygnus NG-10 cargo resupply ship in the Horizontal Integration Facility and be bolted on top of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket. Blastoff slated for Nov. 15, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the ISS.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Cygnus will deliver vital equipment, supplies and scientific equipment to the space station as part of Northrop Grumman’s Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1) contract with NASA – totaling 11 cargo flights.

“NG-10 is the next to last followed by NG-11 next spring under the CRS-1 contract, said Eberly. 

“Northrop Grumman also has been awarded the follow on CRS-2 contract from NASA comprising at least 6 more cargo missions.”

Long duration exposure image showing launch of Orbital ATK OA-9 Antares/Cygnus to the ISS on 21 May 2018 from NASA Wallops, VA. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

To date, Cygnus spacecraft have delivered more than 23,000 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station, and removed 17,000 kilograms of disposable cargo. 

The prior Cygnus cargo freighter was successfully launched by an Antares 230 vehicle from Wallops on May 21, 2018 on the Orbital ATK OA-9 resupply mission for NASA before the company merged with Northrop Grumman. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area.

………….

Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Former NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Ken Kremer/Space UpClose give 2 thumbs up inside NASA Wallops cleanroom for Northrop Grumman built Cygnus NG-10 cargo spacecraft named in honor of honor NASA astronaut and Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young on Oct. 24, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com