Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [1/6]
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S P A C E V I E W S U P D A T E
1998 January 15
http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/980115/
*** Top Stories ***
Lunar Prospector Flies to the Moon
Mir Crew Struggle with Hatch, Computer
Shuttle Cleared for January 22 Launch
*** Technology ***
Delta II Launches British Satellite
Northrop Grumman, Kistler Reach Agreement
Arianespace Places Large Ariane 5 Order
*** Policy ***
Glenn To Fly on Shuttle This Year
New NASA Directors Named
Space Science Groups Push Budget Lobbying
*** Science ***
Oceanic Asteroid Impacts More Dangerous Than Once Thought
Black Holes in the Milky Way
News On Origin, Fate of Universe
A Planet Around Beta Pictoris?
*** CyberSpace ***
GSOC Satellite Predictions
Lunar Prospector
Peoria Astronomical Society
Equator-S
*** Space Capsules ***
including SpaceViews Event Horizon
Editor's Note: Be sure to check out SpaceViews' "Top Ten Stories of 1997"
on the Web site at http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/topten97/ . It's also a
sneak preview of the upcoming new design of the Web site!
*** Top Stories ***
Lunar Prospector Flies to the Moon
Lunar Prospector, the first exclusively-NASA mission to the Moon
since Apollo 17 25 years ago, successfully launched January 6 from Cape
Canaveral and made its way into lunar orbit several days later.
A Lockheed Martin Athena II rocket launched Lunar Prospector at
9:28pm EST January 6 (0228 UT Jan. 7) from the new commercial Spaceport
Florida launch site at Cape Canaveral. The three-stage Athena II, on
its maiden flight, performed flawlessly, delivering the spacecraft into
a temporary parking orbit before a booster engine placed the spacecraft
on a lunar trajectory about one hour after launch.
Following a 4 1/2 day cruise to the Moon, Lunar Prospector
entered a preliminary lunar orbit on Sunday, January 12 in the first of
three planned thruster firings. The spacecraft is expected to enter its
final orbit, a circular orbit 100 km (62 mi.) above the lunar surface,
after a final thruster burn Thursday.
"We're basically there," said project scientist Alan Binder at a
January 13 press conference. "This [the Thursday thruster burn] is just
a typical tweaking maneuver you make at the very end."
The instruments on Lunar Prospector have been turned on and are
already beginning to return data about the Moon, officials said.
The mission to date has been relatively uneventful, with almost
no problems reported by mission controllers at NASA's Ames Research
Center. "The mission so far has felt like we're flying simulations --
it's been that smooth," Binder told UPI.
The launch of Lunar Prospector was delayed one day when a ground
control radar operated by the Air Force failed. The radar was one of
several used to track the rocket after launch. The radar was especially
critical since the Athena II used a more vertical trajectory than
typical Cape launches, meaning the rocket was near land and populated
areas longer than usual.
Had the January 6 launch been scrubbed, NASA would have
postponed the launch to early February, when the low-energy trajectory
Lunar Prospector used to reach the Moon would next have been available.
The launch had already been pushed back several times since late
September due to delays in testing the Athena II (formerly LMLV-2)
launcher.
Once Lunar Prospector enters its final orbit, it will begin a
detailed survey of the composition of the lunar surface. Other
instruments on the spacecraft will measure the magnetic and gravity
fields of the Moon, and study the Moon's internal structure.
Of particular interest will be permanently shadowed regions of
the south pole, where traces of water ice may be hidden. Clementine, a
U.S. Defense Department satellite with some participation from NASA that
orbited the Moon in 1994, detected what some scientists believe to be
ice. However, those findings have been disputed by others with
ground-based data, who detect no such deposits of water ice.
Lunar Prospector also carries a special payload. NASA announced
a day before the launch that a small container with several grams of the
ashes of the late planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker was on the
spacecraft. Shoemaker, a leading lunar scientist, trained the Apollo
astronauts who would walk on the moon but was unable to go himself
because of a health problem.
The tribute to Shoemaker was made with the cooperation of NASA
and friends and family of Shoemaker, and organized by University of
Arizona professor Carolyn Porco, a former student of Shoemaker. "I felt
that this was Gene's last chance to get to the moon, and that it would
be a fitting and beautiful tribute to a man who was a towering figure
and a pioneer in the exploration of the solar system," she said.
The container that carries Shoemaker's ashes was provided by
Celestis, a company that provides similar space memorial services.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
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Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [2/6]
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Mir Crew Struggle with Hatch, Computer
The crew of the Russian space station Mir performed a pair of
spacewalks this month, including one unsuccessful attempt to repair a
leaking hatch, while dealing with yet another problem with the station's
computer system.
Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov spent
just three hours outside Mir January 8 in an effort to repair a leaking
hatch on the Kvant-2 module. The hatch, used by cosmonauts to enter and
exit the station during spacewalks, failed to seal after a November
spacewalk, forcing the crew to depressurize the Kvant-2 airlock and use
an interior room in the module as a makeshift airlock.
Solovyov and Vinogradov found that one of the 10 main locks on
the hatch had broken, and five of 10 backup locks had failed to latch,
leaving a gap nearly 1 cm (0.4 in.) wide. Mission controllers decided
the cosmonauts would not have time to repair the broken lock during
their scheduled six-hour spacewalk, and instructed them instead to latch
all the locks when closing the hatch.
However, the locks failed to completely seal the hatch after the
spacewalk was completed. Russian mission control officials reported
that the pressure in the airlock has dropped by about 100 millibars
three days after the spacewalk. "The leak has become slower, but there
is still a leak," said spokesman Viktor Blagov.
Solovyov and Wolf spent nearly four hours outside Mir on the
afternoon of January 14, using a spectrometer to take readings on the
hull of Mir to see how it has faired after spending nearly twelve years
in orbit. The spacewalk was delayed by about a half-hour due to
problems with the hatch, and wrapped up early so the spacewalkers would
have more time to deal with the balky hatch.
Wednesday's spacewalk was the 16th for Solovyov, who has now
spent nearly 80 hours in spacewalks, a world record. The spacewalk was
the first for Wolf, who received extra guidance from Solovyov and
Russian mission controllers while working outside the station.
"This is very spectacular," Wolf said after the spacewalk. "I'd
like to do it again."
The crew also had to deal with another problem with Mir's
computer. The computer system failed early Friday, January 2, forcing
the crew to shut down most systems as the solar cells on the station
drifted out of alignment with the Sun. The computer was repaired, and
power restored, the following day.
All three crew members are nearing the end of their stays on
Mir. Wolf will be relieved by astronaut Andy Thomas when the shuttle
Endeavour docks with Mir later this month. A Soyuz is scheduled for
launch at the end of January, carrying two Russian cosmonauts to relieve
Solovyov and Vinogradov as well as French guest cosmonaut Leopold
Eyarts.
Shuttle Cleared for January 22 Launch
NASA gave the green light January 8 for the January 22 launch of
the shuttle Endeavour on a nine-day mission to dock with the Russian
space station Mir for the next to last time.
Mission STS-89 is scheduled for launch on the 22nd at 9:48pm EST
90248 UT Jan. 23), at the beginning of a five-minute launch window. If
the shuttle launched on time landing is scheduled for 5:36pm EST (2236
UT) January 31 at the Kennedy Space Center.
The mission will feature the eighth and next-to-last docking of
the shuttle with Mir. Astronaut Andy Thomas, who will fly up on
Endeavour, will take the place of David Wolf on Mir. Wolf will return
to Earth with the rest of the Endeavour crew, ending his four-month tour
of duty on the Russian space station.
In addition to the astronaut exchange approximately 3,200 kg
(7,000 lbs.) of food, equipment, and other supplies will be transferred
between the shuttle and Mir.
The seven-person crew of STS-89 is commanded by Terrence Wilcutt
and includes four rookie astronauts, among them Salizhan Sharipov, a
cosmonaut from Kirghizia who trained at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center. Veteran astronaut Bonnie Dunbar will be making her
fifth flight in space on STS-89 as a mission specialist.
STS-89 was originally slated for a January 15 launch, but was
delayed five days last month at the request of the Russian government,
who wanted to give the Mir crew more time to complete experiments before
the arrival of the shuttle. An additional two-day delay was added when
technicians needed time to remove extra insulation from the external
tank of the shuttle.
*** Technology ***
Delta II Launches British Satellite
A Boeing Delta II launched a British communications satellite
into orbit Friday, January 9, marking the first of 18 scheduled Delta II
and III launches in 1998.
The Delta II lifted off from Pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida,
at 7:32pm EST January 9 (0032 UT Jan. 10). The launch has been delayed
by nearly an hour due to several minor problems, including a technical
problem with an upper stage of the booster, a ship in a restricted area
offshore, and concerns about lightning.
The rocket carried into orbit the SKYNET 4D satellite for the
British military. The satellite, built by Matra Marconi, is the first
of three new satellites that will replace Great Britain's existing
system of three older comsats the country uses to maintain contact with
its military forces worldwide.
The launch was the first at Pad 17B since modifications were
made to the facility so it can accommodate Delta III boosters. The pad
can now handle the Delta II and the larger Delta III, the first launch
of which is scheduled later this year.
Seventeen more Delta launches, including two Delta III launches,
are scheduled for the rest of 1998, according to Jay Witzling, director
of Boeing's Delta and Titan programs.
Northrop Grumman, Kistler Reach Agreement
Kistler Aerospace Corporation has awarded a contract worth $145
million to Northrop Grumman to develop and build the structures for
Kistler's K-1 reusable launch system.
Northrop Grumman has already been working on the preliminary
design of the K-1 launcher, based on a preliminary contract awarded by
Kistler a year earlier. The new contract includes the design,
development, and manufacture of the structures for the two-stage
launcher.
The Kistler K-1 launcher is billed as the world's first fully
reusable launcher. A first stage, powered by three NK-33 engines, would
launch the booster to an altitude of approximately 36,000 meters
(120,000 feet). The first stage would then separate and return to Earth
by way of parachutes and airbags, while the second stage, using a single
NK-43 engine, flies into orbit. After deploying its payload the stage
would reenter and land, also using parachutes and airbags.
Kistler plans to operate the K-1 at launch sites in Nevada
and/or Woomera, Australia, with test flights starting in late 1998.
Kistler CEO George Mueller personally approved the Woomera site in a
visit there last month, according to Australian reports.
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Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [3/6]
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Arianespace Places Large Ariane 5 Order
The French aerospace firm Arianespace has announced plans to
build 50 of the new heavy-lift Ariane 5 boosters for commercial launches
well into the next decade, company officials announced last week.
An initial order of 20 Ariane 5 launchers will be used for
commercial launches in 2001 and 2002, with the additional 30 to be
obtained for future launches. The company has already ordered 14 Ariane
5 for launches starting with the third qualification flight, Ariane 503,
scheduled for this June.
Arianespace plans to start commercial Ariane 5 launches in late
1998, according to Jean-Marie Luton, chairman and CEO of Arianespace.
The company plans to start with 5 Ariane 5 launches a year in 1999,
growing to 10 by 2001 and up to 14 in future years.
Arianespace currently operates the highly-successful series of
Ariane 4 launchers, which have captured a large fraction of the
commercial launch market. While the Ariane 4 boosters will be phased
out in future years, 10 Ariane 4 launches are still scheduled for 1998.
Although the large order of Ariane 5s will allow the company to
reduce the cost of each booster, Arianespace has plans to raise up to
$200 million in new capital to cover the manufacture of both Ariane 4
and Ariane 5 rockets.
*** Policy ***
Glenn To Fly on Shuttle This Year
Former astronaut and retiring U.S. Senator John Glenn may fly as
a payload specialist on a shuttle mission late this year, the weekly
news magazine Newsweek reported this week.
The magazine cited anonymous sources who claimed a decision was
near to let Glenn fly on the shuttle Discovery this October on mission
STS-95. Glenn would fly on the mission as part of a National Institutes
of Health study to test the effects of weightlessness on the aging
process.
A decision, if any, would lie solely in the hands of NASA
administrator Dan Goldin, said a White House source in the January 14
issue of the Washington Post. A spokesperson for Goldin said there was
"no deadline" for that decision, according to the Post.
However, Glenn would require at least several months of training
before flying any mission, which implies that a decision about flying on
October's STS-95 mission would have to come in the near future. There
was no word whether Glenn would resign from the Senate should he be
selected on fly on STS-95. The long-time senator announced last year he
would not run for reelection in 1998.
Although Glenn has been quiet on the subject of flying in space
again in recent weeks, he had been very outspoken on the topic last year
and earlier. Last July on the NBC news program "Meet the Press" Glenn
said he was interested in flying on a shuttle mission. "There is very
good scientific reason for putting somebody back up there again," Glenn
said. "And, obviously, I'd be interested in being that somebody if they
decide to do this."
At that time, Goldin said NASA was evaluating Glenn's request.
"He has a burning desire to go back into space," Goldin said of Glenn on
the same program, "and we're giving it very serious consideration, and
we'll see where this goes."
Some people with NASA have quietly criticized the thought of
flying Glenn into orbit, claiming the decision is based more on politics
than on scientific research. Glenn, a Democrat, supported President
Clinton in last summer's Congressional hearings on alleged fundraising
abuse by Clinton during his 1996 reelection campaign.
LATE NEWS:
As this issue was going to press, CNN reported that John Glenn will
fly on the STS-95 mission, with an official announcement expected
Friday, January 16. Look for updated information on the SpaceViews
Web site and in the next issue of SpaceViews.
New NASA Directors Named
The director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has been
named as the new director of NASA's Office of Space Flight, while his
lieutenant has been named as the new director of Goddard.
NASA named Joseph H. Rothenberg as the new Associate
Administrator in charge of the Office of Space Flight on January 8. "He
brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective as NASA's human
space flight enterprise enters a new era with the construction of the
International Space Station," NASA administrator Dan Goldin said in a
statement.
Rothenberg came to NASA Goddard in 1983 as operations manager of
the Hubble Space Telescope project, after spending 19 years with Grumman
Aerospace. Rothenberg advanced through the ranks at Goddard, becoming
Associate Director in charge of Hubble in 1990 and director in 1994.
Rothenberg replaces Wilbur C. Trafton, who announced his
resignation from the position in November. Trafton, who served in the
position for over 18 months, had come under some heat in Congressional
hearings for cost overruns on the International Space Station, but all
involved claimed there was no link between Trafton's resignation and the
problems with ISS.
Replacing Rothenberg as director of Goddard is Alphonso V.
("Al") Diaz, who had been the deputy director of the space center. Diaz
has been with NASA since joining the Langley Research Center in 1964 as
a co-op student. Diaz moved from NASA Headquarters to Goddard in 1996.
Space Science Groups Push Budget Lobbying
Several professional organizations representing scientists urged
their members to lobby for increased science funding, including space
science, as the Clinton administration finishes its draft of the fiscal
year 1999 budget.
Separate but similar mailings by the American Geophysical Union
(AGU), American Physical Society (APS), and the American Astronomical
Society (AAS) urged their members to write to key officials within the
Clinton administration, urging them to support increased funding for the
sciences.
The administration had planned "only minimal increases for
research" according to a January 8 mailing by AAS president Andrea
Dupree and senior associate Peter Boyce, "but the large response from
chemists and physicists has begun to change some opinions at the White
House."
At the same time, reports indicate any budget cuts in NASA's
1998 budget will be far less severe than once thought. While cuts of up
to $1 billion from NASA's $13.6 appropriation for FY 1998, were
considered, NASA Watch reports cuts may only be on the order of $200
million.
The American Institute of Physics' FYI newsletter also reported
Tuesday, January 13 that cuts on the order of $200-300 million, but no
higher, could be expected from NASA's budget. The newsletter, citing a
report in Congressional Quarterly, explained the change on a letter
signed in the late fall, organized by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL), by 200
members of the House, requesting an increase, not cut, in NASA's budget.
Clinton's proposed 1999 budget is expected to be released in
early February.
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Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [4/6]
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*** Science ***
Oceanic Asteroid Impacts More Dangerous Than Once Thought
Asteroids impacting the Earth's oceans could generate waves more
powerful than once thought, strong enough to inundate huge portions of
coastlines thousands of kilometers away from the impact, Los Alamos
National Laboratory researchers reported this month.
Astrophysicist Jack Hills and Charles Mader used advanced
computer simulations to study the effects of the impacts of large
asteroids in the Earth's oceans. Hills reported on the results at the
winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C.
Hills and Mader showed that an asteroid 5 km (3 mi.) across
colliding with the mid-Atlantic would generate waves powerful enough to
inundate the entire upper East Coast of the United States, all the way
to the Appalachian mountains, as well as coastlines in western Europe.
While an asteroid that large is expected to strike the Earth
only once every ten million years, Hills and Mader showed even small
asteroids could cause significant damage from water impacts. An
asteroid only 400 m (1,300 feet) in diameter, striking in the middle of
an ocean, could inflict tsunamis up to 90 m (300 ft.) high on opposite
coasts.
While it has been long known that oceanic impacts of asteroids
could generate huge tsunamis (often incorrectly called tidal waves), the
model of Hills and Mader is the most detailed yet to study the issue.
Hills and Mader have funding for an additional three years of study the
effects of such impacts in greater detail.
Hills, while explaining the destructive power of such asteroids,
noted that they were entirely avoidable if a system was built to detect
and deflect, if necessary, and threatening asteroids. "It's a problem
that could be solved for much less than the cost of one hurricane. We
could just set it up and be done with it."
Black Holes in the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered new evidence of a massive black hole
in the center of our galaxy, while another black hole in our galaxy has
been found to eject a mass equal to a large asteroid in half-hour
intervals.
Astronomers have focused their attention on Sagittarius A* (Sgr
A*), an unusual radio source located in the center of the galaxy.
German astronomers measured the motions of stars near Sgr A* and found
them moving at up to 1000 km/sec (223,000 mph). The speed implies the
stars are moving around a source nearly three million times as massive
as the Sun, but in an area only 100 times the size of the Solar System.
Based on this information alone, astronomers could not rule out
either a black hole or a dense cluster of stars. Another team of
astronomers led by Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center of
Astrophysics used the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to measure the
movement of Sgr A* itself to very high accuracy.
Reid and his collaborations concluded that Sgr A* was moving
very slowly, apparently anchored to the center of the galaxy. This
movement was consistent with Sgr A* being a black hole, the researchers
concluded, weighing up to three million times the Sun.
Another team of astronomers from Caltech, MIT, and NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center focused on another, smaller, black hole in
the Milky Way galaxy. Using a combination of x-ray and infrared
observations, the astronomers found that x-rays emitted from hot gas
circling the black hole in an accretion disk would disappear on a
regular basis, every half-hour.
At the same time the x-ray emission disappeared, jets of hot gas
were visible in the infrared observations. The astronomers concluded
that the hot gas was the x-ray emitting gas being hurled away from the
black hole at nearly the speed of light as the disk was disrupted.
The mass of the disrupted gas was estimated to be about 100
trillion tons, or the mass of a sizable asteroid. However, noted
astrophysicist Jean Swank of NASA Goddard, the gas is hurled away at
nearly the speed of light, requiring an amount of energy equal to six
trillion times the annual energy consumption of the United States.
"The system behaves like the celestial version of Old Faithful,"
said Craig Markwardt of Goddard. Every half-hour, more gas is disrupted
and flung away from the black hole. New gas is added to the black hole
from the surface of a nearby star.
Astronomers hope the study of this black hole will give them a
greater understanding of black holes and the formation of jets.
News On Origin, Fate of Universe
Astronomers studying the infrared background radiation of the
universe have provided a better understanding of conditions early in the
history of universe, while several other teams of researchers have
confirmed news about the eventual fate of the universe.
Astronomers used infrared observations from the Cosmic
Background Explorer (COBE) to study the conditions of the early
universe, going as far back as 300,000 years after the Big Bang.
The infrared background radiation is emitted by dust created in
the early universe. By summing all the light visible in the infrared
background they were able to estimate how much energy, and thus how many
stars and galaxies, existed in the early universe.
"`What we've done is basically taken a core sample of the
universe, but we've crushed it down to one dimension," said Michael
Hauser of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Initial findings indicate that the while the early universe was
very dim -- perhaps 200 times dimmer than the starlight visible on a
moonlit night -- it had far more light in the far infrared than visible
today. The additional light may be obscured by dust clouds or be too
faint and far away to be seen.
Five other teams of cosmologists confirmed reports circulating
in recent months that the universe has far too little mass to stop its
expansion and contract into a "Big Crunch." The cosmologists believe
that the universe will continue to expand forever.
"With 95 percent confidence, we can say the universe is going to
expand forever," said Ruth Daly of Princeton University at the annual
winter AAS meeting in Washington.
Astronomers used observations of distant supernovae to reach
their conclusions. By comparing the redshifted light of distant
supernovae from the light of similar, but much closer, supernovae,
astronomers computer the distances to the distant stars and measure
their expansion rates, providing key information on the state of the
universe.
The findings that the universe may have as little as 20 percent
of the mass needed to stop expansion could pose a problem for key Big
Bang theories. "Inflation" theories, which propose that the universe
underwent a brief but sudden expansion within the first second after the
Big Bang, require that the mass of the universe be perfectly balanced,
with just enough mass to stop the expansion.
"Reaching out to these most distant supernovae teaches us about
the 'Cosmological Constant,' which Einstein once called his greatest
mistake," according to University of Stockholm astronomer Ariel Goodbar,
a member of one of teams that studied the supernovae, as the
cosmological constant may be the only way to rescue the inflation
theories.
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Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [5/6]
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A Planet Around Beta Pictoris?
A warp in a disk of gas and dust surrounding the nearby Beta
Pictoris may be a newly-formed planet, according to research by a NASA
Goddard astronomer.
Sally Heap reported at this month's American Astronomical
Society meeting in Washington that a warped portion of the circumstellar
disk around the star seen in new Hubble Space Telescope images may be
one or more planets in the early stages of formation.
Heap, pointing out that other hypotheses for explaining the
disk, including radiation from a nearby star, had been ruled out, they
were "left with the planetary hypothesis," she said. "It's not too
unreasonable."
Other members of the team studying the images were not as quick
to agree. Team leader Al Schultz of the Space Telescope Science
Institute (STScI) thought the warp could be caused by a small brown
dwarf circling the star at great distances.
Another team member, Fred Bruhweiler of the Catholic University
of America, favored another hypothesis. "The distortions we are seeing
may have been caused by the passing of a nearby star within the past few
100 million years since the disk was formed," he explained. "The
culprit could easily be a thousand light-years away by now. We probably
will never know who did it."
Still, neither Schultz nor Bruhweiler ruled out the planet
hypothesis, and all involved urged more research be performed.
A warp in the disk of gas and dust surrounding Beta Pictoris, 60
light-years from the Earth, was first noticed in Hubble images in 1996
by Chris Burrows of STScI. At the time he proposed a large planet
orbiting out of the plane of the disk could cause the warping.
*** CyberSpace ***
GSOC Satellite Prediction
Wondering what that point of light you see speeding across the
night sky is? It's probably a satellite, and you can find out what
satellite it is from the GSOC Satellite Prediction service. This Web
site provides predictions of observable satellites, from mighty Mir to
many smaller, dimmer, satellites, for any location on the planet. The
site has also added predictions for "Iridium flares", the sudden, very
bright flashes cased by reflections off Iridium satellites. This site
is a great place to go if you're at all curious to find out what
satellites you can see in the night sky.
http://www.gsoc.dlr.de/satvis
Lunar Prospector
The Lunar Prospector spacecraft was launched last week to
perform a comprehensive scientific survey of the lunar surface. The
official Web site for the mission has detailed information about the
spacecraft and its mission, as well as information about the history of
the Moon itself. A great place to get ready for the mission!
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/
Peoria Astronomical Society
While the title might suggest something of interest just to
people in this Illinois city, the Web site of the Peoria Astronomical
Society has something to offer to Web surfers worldwide. An
astronomical handbook teaches visitors about various concepts in
astronomy with notes and interactive presentations. Another section has
a comprehensive directory of astronomy links. The entire site features
exquisite graphics and design. An excellent online astronomy resource!
http://bradley.bradley.edu/~dware/
Equator-S
The Equator-S satellite is a German mission to study the
equatorial magnetosphere of the Earth. Originally conceived as a NASA
mission back in 1980(!), the mission has died and been reborn several
times before its successful launch in December. This Web site provides
a detailed look at the mission, including its scientific objectives,
instruments, personnel, and latest news about the mission. This site
shows an excellent way of communicating the purpose of a mission simply
and effectively.
http://www.mpe-garching.mpg.de/www_plas/EQS/eq-s-home.html
*** SpaceViews Event Horizon ***
January 22 Launch of shuttle Endeavour on STS-89, Mir docking
mission, at 9:48pm EST from Kennedy Space Center,
Florida
January 23 Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft Earth
flyby
January 23 Taurus 2 launch of GeoSat-FO-1 radar altimeter satellite
January 25 Long March 3B launch of Sinosat-1 from Xichang launch
center, China
January 28 Soyuz TM-29 launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan
January 30 Ariane 4 launch of two communications satellite from
Kourou, French Guiana
January 31 Landing of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space
Center, Florida, 5:36pm EST
February 10-11 FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference,
Arlington, Virginia
February 26 Total solar eclipse visible from portions of South
America and the Caribbean
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Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update -- 1998 January 15 [6/6]
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*** Space Capsules ***
No Contact with EarlyBird: Engineers have failed to make contact with
EarlyBird 1, the commercial remote sensing satellite launched on a
Russian rocket on Christmas Eve. No signals have been received from the
spacecraft since December 28, due to "an anomalous undervoltage
condition", according to a statement. On January 13, EarthWatch, the
company that owns EarlyBird, said its engineers were commanding the
spacecraft to turn off all noncritical systems in the hope that the
satellite will build up enough battery power for normal two-way
communications to resume. EarthWatch officials "anticipate requiring
several days to accomplish this objective."
Greenland Meteor: The search continued for any remnants of a meteor
seen over Greenland on the morning of December 9. Search crews looking
in the arctic ice that covers nearly all the island have not turned up
any evidence of a meteorite remnant from the event, which was seen by
many Greenlanders and recorded on video. However, there have been no
reports of a seismic detection of the impact and a report of a cloud
formation caused by the impact was later found to be erroneous. For
more information turn to http://www.astro.ku.dk/~holger/ .
Commercial Lunar Sample Return: The resurgence in interest in the Moon
prompted by Lunar Prospector may help support one company's efforts to
go one step beyond that mission. Applied Space Resources, Inc., a Long
Island-based company, has announced plans for Lunar Retriever, a mission
that would land on the Moon and return with lunar samples as early as
September 2000, the 30th anniversary of the Luna 16 sample return
mission. Company officials believe the value of lunar samples returned
to Earth could more than pay for the estimated $100 million cost of the
mission. "We consider our Lunar Sample Return Mission an important
demonstration of the value of space resources," said company vice
president Beth Elliott.
Laser Warning: The United States and Russia may soon start sharing
information about any future tests of lasers in space. The news comes
after Russia protested the American test of the MIRACL laser in October,
when the laser was fired at an old American military satellite. While
American commercial operators were warned about the test, Russian
officials were left out, something both countries want to avoid in the
future.
In Brief: A consortium of countries are considering building a giant
radio telescope in Australia. Representatives from ten countries,
including the U.S., China, Japan, India, and several European nations,
met last month in Australia to consider constructing a radiotelescope
one kilometer square that would be capable to detect faint signals from
the early universe... Wallops Island, Virginia, became on January 12
the third commercial spaceport in the U.S. licensed by the FAA. A first
commercial launch, using Athena or Taurus rockets, is planned for 1999.
Sites at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base were the first two
commercial launch sites... Automobile magazine publisher Edmonds
announced January 14 that a CD-ROM with 285 megabytes of files from its
Web site, with information and reviews on cars and trucks, would be
delivered to Mir as reading material for the crew. That sounds great
and all, but if they wanted to do something constructive and fix up the
station, why not send up "Car Talk"'s Click and Clack?
This has been the January 15, 1998, issue of SpaceViews Update.
SpaceViews Update is also availble on the World Wide web from the
SpaceViews home page:
http://www.seds.org/spaceviews/
or via anonymous FTP from ftp.seds.org:
/pub/info/newsletters/spaceviews/update/980115.txt
For editorial questions and article submissions for SpaceViews or
Spaceviews Update, contact the editor, Jeff Foust, at jeff@astron.mit.edu.
For questions about the SpaceViews mailing list, please contact
spaceviews-approval@ari.net.
____ | "SpaceViews" (tm) -by Boston Chapter
// \ // | of the National Space Society (NSS)
// (O) // | Dedicated to the establishment
// \___// | of a spacefaring civilization.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Galileo Frequently Asked Questions - Exploring Europa
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Galileo FAQ - Exploring Europa
Exploring Europa
* What concrete evidence has Galileo found of the suspected ocean below
Europa's frozen surface? (12/31/97)
* What do most scientists believe about the possibility of life in
Europa's oceans? (12/31/97)
* What future missions are being considered to explore Europa? (12/31/97)
What concrete evidence has Galileo found of the suspected ocean below
Europa's frozen surface?
We do not have "concrete" evidence for a ocean presently existing below
Europa's ice crust. However, the Galileo data have considerably strengthened
the case for this. First, the images show clear evidence for near-surface
melting and movements of large blocks of icy crust in ways that are similar
to icebergs or ice rafts on the Earth. Second, there are very few impact
craters on the surface, suggesting that this activity took place recently,
geologically speaking. The problem is that we have no precise way to measure
the exact age of the surface, and it is possible that we are looking at an
ancient "frozen" ocean, not a current one. We feel the evidence favors an
ocean now but that it is not conclusive.
What do most scientists believe about the possibility of life in Europa's
oceans?
This of course depends on when there was an ocean and how long it lasted
(including up to the present). When the Viking went to Mars in 1976, most
life scientists felt that to have a chance for extraterrestrial life you had
to have light (for photosynthesis), liquid water, and oxygen. Since then we
have discovered places on the Earth (ocean floor hydrothermal vents,
geothermal hotsprings, etc.) where life is currently sustained in the dark,
without oxygen, using the heat and chemical energy from volcanic fluids and
water. Some of these life forms such as thermophillic (or heat loving)
bacteria are among the most ancient types of life on Earth. Many scientists
now speculate that life may actually have arisen under such conditions here
on Earth. So, of course, we are now more interested in places like Mars and
Europa where there may have been liquid water and volcanic activity as a
place to look for primitive life. If there is an ocean on Europa, there is
no easy way to estimate the chances that life could exist there but that's
exactly the question we're trying to answer by continued exploration! In
other words, we have to go look. Developing experiments and missions to this
is obviously challenging but we're trying.
What future missions are being considered to explore Europa?
Galileo will continue to observe Europa and we hope in the next year to have
eight more close encounters. Beyond that, NASA is studying a possible Europa
Orbiter mission and perhaps landers in the early part of the next century. A
Europa Orbiter might be able to definitively answer the ocean question by
combining a number of techniques. One approach is to use radar to penetrate
the ice and perhaps measure its thickness. Another is to use very precise
gravity and altimetry measurements to observe the tides raised by Jupiter on
Europa (these will be much larger - as great as 40 meters or so - if there
is a liquid layer than if the water is all frozen).
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 26 января 1998 (1998-01-26)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Galileo K-12 Educator Resources
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
The JPL Galileo K-12 Educator Resources Homepage has recently been updated. We
have changed the format so that you do not have to wade through all of the
educational information to get to the information you most want to see.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/education.html
The original page has been broken into five new pages, 1) Background
Information, 2) Activities, 3) Classroom Resources, 4) Fun Stuff, and 5)
Related
Educational Links. All of the content from the old page can be found in the new
pages. They have all been updated with more current information and new
material. Some highlights of new material are the new Educator's Slide Set
Volume 2 on the Classroom Resources page, a scale model of the Galileo
Spacecraft that you can download and put together, several new Internet links
to
exciting educational pages, and a few new classroom activities. We hope to
regularly add new activities to the classroom activities page in the months to
come.
We have also added a brand new page full of new cool stuff, the Fun Stuff Page.
This page holds links to interesting items that for one reason or other defy
classification in the other sections. You can find lyrics to original and not
so
original songs written by Galileo scientists and engineers. You can find a
picture of Galileo's finger and many other sometimes trivial but always
interesting items.
If you are an adult or child or know someone who is, this will be worth
seeing. :)
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
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