Дата: 21 декабря 1998 (1998-12-21)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update - 1998 December 15 [1/2]
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Вот, свалилось из Internet...
S P A C E V I E W S U P D A T E
1998 December 15
http://www.spaceviews.com/1998/1215/
*** Top Stories ***
Shuttle Completes First ISS Assembly Mission
Mars Climate Orbiter Launched
Argentine Extinctions Linked to Impact
*** Technology ***
Ariane and Pegasus Launches Successful
Russian Rocket Launches Navigation, Science Satellites
Rotary Rocket Begins Tests of Landing System
Cassini Completes Deep Space Maneuver
*** Policy ***
Australian Parliament Passes Commercial Space Bill
ESA Urges More Science Funding from Members
*** Science ***
Europa Fault Latest Evidence for Underground Ocean
Martian Polar Cap Smaller Than Once Thought
Astronomers Discover Most Distant Quasar
*** CyberSpace ***
Shuttle Press Kit
International Dark Sky Association
UKSPACE
Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies
*** Space Capsules ***
SpaceViews Event Horizon
Other News
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*** Top Stories ***
Shuttle Completes First ISS Assembly Mission
The first step in the assembly of the International Space
Station was completed this month as the crew of the space shuttle
Endeavour attached the Unity connecting module to the Zarya control
module.
Endeavour lifted off on mission STS-88 at 3:35 am EST (0835
UT) Friday, December 4. from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. A
launch attempt the previous was scrubbed with only seconds to go
before launch because of a hydraulics problem.
On December 5, the shuttle lifted the Unity module out of the
cargo bay and attached it to a docking port. One day later, the
shuttle caught up with the Zarya module, launched last month, and
attached it to Unity.
A minor problem occurred after the two modules docked, when a
docking ring became misaligned as it moved to bring the two modules
into a hard lock. Controllers noticed that the misalignment was
taking place on the side of Zarya where the robot arm was attached.
When the arm was removed, the docking ring aligned again. The ring
retracted with no further problems.
Astronauts Jerry Ross and Jim Newman conducted three
spacewalks on December 7, 9, and 12 to finalize the connections
between the modules. On the December 7 spacewalk they connected about
40 cables between the two modules and checked out the status of the
two Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous System (TORU) antennae on the
Zarya module that failed to deploy properly.
On December 9, Ross and Newman attached two S-band antennae on
Unity and freed one of the TORU antenna. On December 12 they freed
the other TORU antenna while attaching tools and handholds to the
exterior of the module, and tested a jet backpack system designed to
rescue a spacewalker that floated away from the station.
In between the second and third spacewalks, the crew entered
the station for the first time December 10, and spent two days
outfitting the interior of the modules and placing materials, from
communications equipment to spare clothes, in the station. The
shuttle then undocked from the station Sunday, December 13.
With the undocking, the station will remain unoccupied until
May of 1999, when shuttle mission STS-96 arrives to offload cargo onto
the station and attach a crane to the exterior of Zarya.
On the ground, NASA officials were congratulating the shuttle
crew and everyone else involved with the success of the mission, the
first of many shuttle missions devoted to space station assembly over
the next several years.
"I believe this hardware is the foundation for what will put
humanity into space forever," said Frank Culbertson, the deputy space
station manager. "There will always be people off the face of the
planet."
The shuttle crew then wrapped up their mission by deploying
two secondary payloads. Astronauts deployed the SAC-A satellite for
Argentina Sunday night. The satellite carries a number of
experiments, including a magnetometer, new solar cells, and a test of
whale tracking technologies. On Monday the crew released MightySat 1,
an Air Force satellite that will test advanced solar cells,
electronics, and other equipment.
Endeavour is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center,
Florida on Tuesday, December 15 at 10:56 pm EST (0356 UT December 16),
with a second landing attempt December 16 at 12:32 am EST (0532 UT).
Mars Climate Orbiter Launched
The first of two of NASA's latest Mars missions got underway
with a launch from Cape Canaveral Friday afternoon, December 11.
Mars Climate Observer (MCO) lifted off at 1:45:51 pm EST
(1845:51 UT) on a Boeing Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. No
problems were reported with the launch. The Delta 2 placed the
spacecraft onto a Mars trajectory, and the spacecraft successfully
separated from rocket 47 minutes after launch.
The launch was delayed one day when a problem was
found with MCO's software. A bug in the software designed to monitor
hardware problems could have allowed the spacecraft's batteries to
overcharge and fail if a charge regulator failed and a backup not
properly activated.
MCO is the first of two NASA missions that will be the latest
to study the Red Planet. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in
September 1999. It will monitor the Martian atmosphere and surface
for one Martian year (687 days), including studying seasonal changes
and the transport of dust and water vapor in the atmosphere.
The spacecraft will carry out those observations with two
instruments. The Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer (PMIRR) will
provide vertical profiles of temperature, dust, clouds, and water
vapor content of the Martian atmosphere. The Mars Color Imager
(MARCI) will provide daily wide-angle global views of Mars and
medium-angle views of specific surface features.
MCO will also server as a communications relay for NASA's
second mission, Mars Polar Lander (MPL). MPL, scheduled for launch
January 3, will land in the south polar regions of Mars in December
1999.
Argentine Extinctions Linked to Impact
A comet or asteroid impact in Argentina 3.3 million years ago
-- recent in geologic history -- was the cause of the extinction of
dozens of species of animals, scientists reported Thursday, December
10.
A group of American and Argentine researchers found evidence
of an impact in an unusual layer of glassy rock called escoria found
on Argentina's southeastern coast. Chemical analysis of the escoria
found high concentrations of iridium and chromium, signatures of a
previously-unknown impact.
The escoria is just below a layer of dusty deposits where
fossil evidence shows the extinction of 36 animal species, including
ground sloths, a flightless bird, and large armadillo-like creatures.
The researches believe climate changes caused by the impact killed off
the animals.
"Unlike what impacts did to dinosaurs and other prehistoric
creatures, this was not an event that led to global extinctions," said
lead investigator Peter Schultz of Brown University. "This is a
threshold event. It may have been small enough to cause regional
damage and extinctions and may have triggered a climate change."
Additional evidence for climate changes from an impact come
from analysis of sediment cores from the nearby ocean floor. Those
samples show evidence of a sudden drop in air and water temperatures
almost 3.3 million years ago. The age of the escoria samples was also
found to be 3.3 million years old, from magnetic and chemical
analyses.
The impact may have created a cycle of warmer and cooler
climates that are still in effect today, Schultz said. "El Nino or a
volcanic eruption produces small tweaks to the climate compared to
what one of these impacts can do."
*** Technology ***
Ariane and Pegasus Launches Successful
An Ariane 4 booster launched a Mexican communications
satellite Saturday evening, December 5, while less than 15 minutes
later a Pegasus XL launched a long-delayed NASA astronomy satellite.
An Ariane 42L lifted off at 7:43 pm EST (0043 UT December 6)
from Kourou, French Guiana. Launch had been delayed one day because
of an anomaly with its payload.
The Ariane successfully deployed the Satmex 5 communications
satellite about 20 minutes after launch. The satellite, operated by
the private telecommunications company Satmex, will provide telephone
and direct television broadcasts for Mexico and the rest of Latin
America. The Hughes-built satellite will replace the existing Morelos
II satellite.
Meanwhile, off the California coast, an Orbital Sciences
Corporation Pegasus XL booster launched NASA's Submillimeter Wave
Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) satellite. The booster detached from its
L-1011 carrier aircraft at 7:57 pm EST (0057 UT December 6). The
satellite detached from the booster 11 1/2 minutes after launch.
The SWAS launch was scheduled for December 2, but was pushed
back two days because of a technical problem and one additional day
due to poor weather. The small satellite was originally scheduled for
launch in the mid-1990s but was delayed by problems with the Pegasus
XL launcher, and then pushed back because of other NASA payloads.
SWAS is designed to study the sky at submillimeter wavelengths
-- longer than infrared light but shorter than radio -- to study the
composition of interstellar clouds and determine how they collapse to
form stars and planets. The 180-kg (397-lb.) satellite will orbit in
a 600-km (370-mi.) orbit inclined 70 degrees to the equator and
operate for at least one year.
Russian Rocket Launches Navigation, Science Satellites
A Russian Kosmos booster launched a navigation satellite and a
small Swedish science satellite into orbit on Thursday, December 10.
The Kosmos-3M booster lifted off at 6:57 am EST (1157 UT) from
the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Its payload, the Nadezhda
navigation satellite the Astrid-2 science microsatellite, successfully
reached orbit.
The 850-kilogram (1,870-pound) Nadezhda will be used in
search-and-rescue operations to relay distress calls from ships and
planes. It will be used as part of the Search and Rescue
Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT) program, an international project
that includes contributions from the United States, Canada, and
France. Nadezhda will operate from a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) orbit
at an 83-degree inclination.
Astrid-2 is a small, 35-kg (77-lb.) microsatellite designed to
perform observations of the aurora, including measurements of
electrical and magnetic fields and ultraviolet images of aurorae. The
spacecraft was built by the Swedish Space Corporation's Science
Systems Division.
Rotary Rocket Begins Tests of Landing System
Rotary Rocket Company has begun tests of the rotors that will
be used in the landing system of its unique Roton reusable launch
vehicle, the company announced this week.
The tests, conducted in early November, were limited to ground
tests of the rotor assembly that will be used to land the Roton. The
rotors were spun up to 75 revolutions per minute (rpm). Subsequent
tests will test the rotor through its full operational range, the
company said.
The rotor is a key component of the Roton's landing system.
Autorotation of the rotor will be used to slow down the vehicle as it
returns to Earth. Small hydrogen peroxide thrusters will be used to
speed up the rotors just above the ground, permitting a gentle
landing.
Rotary Rocket and its prime contractor, Scaled Composites, are
building the first Roton atmospheric test vehicle (ATV). The ATV is
scheduled for its first flight in the second quarter of 1999, when it
will conduct low-altitude approach and landing tests.
The Roton is scheduled to enter commercial service in 2000.
The single-stage to orbit reusable launch vehicle will take off and
land horizontally. The vehicle, flown by a two-person crew, will be
able to carry up to 3,200 kg (7,000 lbs.) into orbit for $7 million a
flight.
Cassini Completes Deep Space Maneuver
The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft successfully completed a
thruster firing in deep space early Thursday, December 3, putting the
spacecraft on course for a Venus flyby next year.
The main thruster on Cassini fired for 90 minutes starting at
1:06 am EST (0606 UT) December 3. The thruster firing went as
planned, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reported.
"The performance of the spacecraft and the team in performing
this maneuver was just perfect, we couldn't have asked for anything
better," said Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager.
The maneuver slowed Cassini down by 450 meters per second
(1,006 mph) to a speed of 66,240 kilometers per hour (41,161 miles per
hour). The thruster burn adjusted the flight path so that Cassini
will make a planned flyby of Venus in June 1999.
That flyby, along with an Earth flyby in August 1999 and a
Jupiter flyby in late December 2000 will send Cassini to Saturn,
arriving in July 2004. Cassini completed a Venus flyby April 26.
Cassini was launched on a Titan 4B booster October 15, 1997.
The series of flybys are needed since the booster, the most powerful
American unmanned booster, was not powerful enough to send the heavy
Cassini spacecraft directly to Saturn.
Cassini will spend at least four years in orbit around Saturn,
returning data on the planet and its rings and moons. It will also
drop Huygens, a separate probe built by the European Space Agency,
into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
*** Policy ***
Australian Parliament Passes Commercial Space Bill
The Australian Parliament passed legislation this month that
will set up a framework for licensing the launch and reentry of
commercial spacecraft.
The Australian Senate completed debate on a set of amendments
to the bill November 20 and pass the Space Activities Bill of 1998.
Most of the amendments, put forward by representatives of two smaller
political parties, the Democrats and the Greens, were voted down by
the Senate. Those amendments included legislation that would have
sharply limited the ability to grant licenses to any payload with
"toxic material" or having any military applications.
Senators also turned down amendments that would have sharply
increased penalties for failure to abide by launch safety regulations,
as well as one that would have required an annual public report on
every contract between a launch services company and its insurer.
The Senate did approve minor amendments, including one that
explicitly requires the approval of a government minister for any
launch carrying fissionable materials, as well as one that requires
the Australian Parliament to be notified of instructions to launch
safety officers and when launch licenses have been revoked or
reinstated.
The Australian House of Representatives approved commercial
space legislation Thursday, December 3, just one day after it was
introduced and three days after it passed the Senate.
Unlike the Senate, where debate last month was extended by a
number of amendments introduced by senators of smaller political
parties, there was essentially no dissension about the bill in the
House, where it had broad support from both the ruling Liberal and
opposition Labor parties.
"This bill sets out a solid foundation for the safe,
efficient, and cost-effective regulation of space launch and recovery
operations in Australia," said Representative Warren Entsch, who
serves as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry,
Science, and Resources. "It provides a stimulus for the growth of a
new Australian industry, based on the rapid global expansion of space
activities."
The bill, introduced in the Senate in November, would create
regulations for securing licenses for commercial launches from
Australian sites, as well as licenses for the return of reusable
launchers. It also sets insurance requirements for any Australian
launches. It is similar to the recently-approved U.S. Commercial
Space Act of 1998, but seeks to create a new regulatory structure
rather than modify an existing one.
With passage of the bill by both houses of the Australian
Parliament, only the formality of a Royal Assent by the
Governor-General is required for the legislation to become law.
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 21 декабря 1998 (1998-12-21)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: SpaceViews Update - 1998 December 15 [2/2]
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
ESA Urges More Science Funding from Members
European Space Agency (ESA) officials have urged member
countries to allocate more money for science programs to hold off a
possible cancellation of a popular Mars mission, Space News reported
this week.
Roger Bonnet, ESA science director, said a three-year freeze
on ESA's science budget may make it impossible for the agency to start
new programs, such as its planned Mars Express mission.
"We are under financial pressures that have brought us to the
very limit of what we can bear," Bonnet told Space News. "All our
bills are adjusted for inflation, but our budget is not."
ESA's science budget has been frozen at 352 million euros
(US$412 million) a year since 1996, effectively a 2-3 percent cut in
the budget each year because of inflation. ESA members will meet to
discuss the 1999 budget in mid-December.
Both Bonnet and ESA Director-General Antonio Rodota urged
ESA's 14 member nations to approve an increase in the budget, so that
ESA can support future missions, such as Mars Express, a
150-million-euro (US$175 million) mission planned for a 2003 launch.
In addition to upcoming programs, ESA's existing science
programs have needed extra funding to handle various problems,
including the recovery of the SOHO solar science satellite after it
spun out of control in June and a six-month delay in the launch of the
X-Ray Multi-Mirror satellite, originally planned for a June 1999
launch.
ESA officials did not specify the amount of a budget increase
they wanted, but hinted that they would be satisfied with enough to
keep up with inflation. "All we want is to preserve our buying power
at current levels," Bonnet said.
*** Science ***
Europa Fault Latest Evidence for Underground Ocean
A long fault similar to California's San Andreas Fault
provides the latest evidence yet that a liquid water ocean exists
beneath the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.
The fault, named Astypalaea Linea, was first discovered in
Galileo images of the moon's south polar region in 1996. However,
more recent images have shown that the 810-km (500-mi.) fault has
moved as much as 50 km (30 mi.) in the past.
The fault is a "strike-slip" variety, where the material on
each side moves horizontally in opposite direction. This is similar
to California's San Andreas Fault, a strike-slip fault that is the
boundary between the Pacific and North American plates.
Bends in strike-slip faults cause one plate to pull apart from
the other. On Earth these pull-apart regions, like Death Valley and
the Salton Sea in California and the Dead Sea in the Middle East, are
filled in with erosional and sedimentary material.
On Europa, though, these pull-apart regions allow material
from below the surface to well up and fill the gap, as seen in the
Galileo images. This material could be warmer, softer ice from below
the surface or frozen water from a subsurface ocean.
"The data may teach us more about the detailed structure that
develops at bends in Earth's faults, including the San Andreas," said
researcher Randy Tufts of the University of Arizona. "In addition,
Astypalaea Linea is simply a beautiful structure."
Martian Polar Cap Smaller Than Once Thought
Data from an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
spacecraft shows that the north polar cap on Mars is smaller than once
thought, too small to account for the liquid water once thought to
exist on Mars, scientists reported this week.
A team of scientists used the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter
(MOLA) instrument to obtain a detailed, precise elevation map of the
north polar cap. The map provided information about the polar cap to
a degree that exceeds knowledge of some regions of Greenland and
Antarctica.
The map shows that the cap is about 1,200 kilometers (750
miles) across and up to 3 km (1.8 mi.) thick, with an average
thickness of just over 1 km (0.6 mi.). The volume of the cap is about
1.2 million cubic km (300,000 cubic mi.), or less than half the volume
of Greenland's ice cap.
That amount of ice is only 10 percent of the amount of water
once thought to exist in oceans early in Martian history, when the
planet was warm enough to support liquid water. Researchers had
thought that the north polar cap, made largely of water ice, was a
repository of water from the oceans.
To account for the difference between the expected volume of
the early Martian oceans and the current volume of the north polar
cap, water must be stored elsewhere on the planet -- perhaps in large
subterranean deposits and the much-smaller south polar cap -- or else
the water was lost to space.
In addition to the small size of the polar cap, scientists
found that the cap sits in a large depression at the north pole, such
that water would tend to flow towards the pole, not away from it as
previously thought. The change may have a major impact on how the
planet's hydrological cycle works.
While the data showed the large areas of the ice cap are very
smooth, the elevation map also revealed unusual canyons as deep as 1
km (0.6 mi.) "Similar features do not occur on any glacial or polar
terrain on the Earth," explained Maria Zuber of MIT. "They appear to
be carved by wind and evaporation of ice."
The findings, announced Sunday, December 6 at the American
Geophysical Union's Fall meeting in San Francisco, will be published
in the December 11 issue of the journal Science.
The announcement also came just days before the launch of
NASA's next mission to Mars. The Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) is
scheduled for launch on a Delta 2 at 1:56:38 pm EST (1856:38 UT)
Thursday, December 10, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
MCO will arrive at Mars in September 1999. It will monitor
the Martian atmosphere and surface for one Martian year (687 days),
including studying seasonal changes and the transport of dust and
water vapor in the atmosphere. It will also support NASA's other
upcoming Mars mission, the Mars Polar Lander, scheduled for launch in
January 1999.
Astronomers Discover Most Distant Quasar
Astronomers using data from a new sky survey still being set
up have already made one key discovery: that of the most distant
quasar yet seen.
The discovery, made by astronomers at Princeton University and
announced last week, was based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS), an effort to map one-quarter of the sky.
Graduate student Xiaohui Fan and his faculty advisor, Michael
Strauss, discovered the object in late November after noticing the
potential quasar in images taken during the commissioning phase of the
SDSS. They took a spectrum of the object using the Apache Point
Observatory (APO) 3.5-meter (137.8-inch) telescope in New Mexico.
The spectra taken with the APO showed the quasar had a
redshift of 5.0. The exact distance is a function of the age of the
universe, a value still not well known, but the object is likely at
least 10 billion light-years away. That redshift would correspond to
a time when the universe was no more than one billion years old. The
Princeton astronomers also found two other quasars that are the second
and fourth most distant known from the SDSS data.
Quasars themselves are something a mystery, as there is no
consensus about what powers these compact objects, as bright as 100
galaxies but no larger than our solar system.
"We have reason to believe that they are powered by massive
black holes whose energy comes from intensely hot material that's
rapidly funneling into the hole," said Richard Kron of the University
of Chicago and Fermilab. "But we don't understand where the holes came
from."
The discovery of quasars is a major goal of the SDSS because
of their usefulness in other studies of the universe. "As the most
powerful beacons in the sky, rare, bright quasars give astronomers an
excellent way to examine intervening material that absorbs their
light," said Craig Hogan of the University of Washington.
The SDSS aims to provide a 3-D view of one-quarter of the sky,
using advanced digital instruments mounted on a 2.5-meter telescope
located near the APO. Among the goals of the survey are plans to
measure the redshifts of 100,000 known quasars and discover at least
500 quasars with redshifts greater than 4.75.
The SDSS telescope first collected data earlier this year, and
is still in the commissioning phase as instruments are calibrated and
data archives created. The project involves eight universities and
organizations from the U.S. and Japan and is funded by several
government agencies and the Sloan Foundation.
*** CyberSpace ***
Shuttle Press Kit
The shuttle press kit, a document describing in detail an upcoming
shuttle mission, was once fairly obscure, available only in the
recesses of a NASA Web site. Not any more. The shuttle press kit now
has its own Web site, where the contents of the kit -- in this case
STS-88, the most recent shuttle mission -- are laid out in a way to
make easy to read and easy to find specific topics. This is great
resource to learn more about upcoming shuttle missions!
http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/<
International Dark Sky Association
Are you finding that your view of the night sky is becoming
increasingly hindered by streetlights and other man-made light
sources? If so, check out the Web site of the International Dark Sky
Association (IDA), an organization dedicated to keeping the night sky
dark. Their Web site has news, information, and other resources to
keep people up to date on various efforts to stop the deleterious
effects excessive lighting has on astronomy.
http://www.darksky.org/
UKSPACE
UKSPACE is a comprehensive site about the growing British space
industry. The site includes profiles of British firms that are
involved with the space industry, and press releases from those
companies. There are also listings of upcoming events and notices,
industry association information, and a message board.
http://www.ukspace.com/
Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies
The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) was created
by the Aerospace Corporation last year to understand the dangers posed
by "space junk" in orbit as well as reentering satellites. This Web
site provides a good introduction to the topics, information about
ongoing research, and links to other Web sites with more details.
http://www.aero.org/cords/
*** Space Capsules ***
SpaceViews Event Horizon
December 18 Launch of a Long March 2 carrying two Iridium
satellites from Taiyuan, China
December 21 Launch of Ariane 4 carrying the PAS-6B comsat from
Kourou, French Guiana
January 3 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Mars Polar Lander
spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
January 8 Launch of a Delta 2 carrying the Argos, Sunsat, and
Oersted satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base,
California
January 14 Launch of an Atlas 2AS carrying the JCSAT-6 satellite
from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Other News
LASRE Tests End: Tests of an aerospike engine similar to one used on
the X-33 have come to an early end, NASA and Lockheed Martin officials
said at the end of November. The Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment
(LASRE) tested a small-scale aerospike engine mounted on an SR-71
aircraft. The engine was successfully cold-fired in the air and
hot-fired on the ground, but officials stopped airborne hot firings,
noting that the cost to fix leaking fuel from the engine would have
been prohibitive. X-33 project leaders said good data was still
collected by engine during its limited tests.
Intel Inside: Future NASA spacecraft may use special
radiation-hardened versions of Intel's Pentium processor, thanks to a
deal announced December 8. Intel will provide a royalty-free license
to the Pentium chip designs to the Department of Energy for use in
special radiation-hardened versions for space and defense
applications. The Pentium chips would be ten times faster than
current designs used on spacecraft. Ordinary commercially-available
chips cannot be used on spacecraft because the harsh radiation
environment in space affects their reliability.
Sun News: Scientists are using data from the Advanced Composition
Explorer (ACE) mission to study small solar flares on the Sun. They
hope that the additional data collected on these small flares, which
cannot be adequately studied by other spacecraft or ground-based
telescopes, will provide a better understanding of the nature and
origin of flares in general... The Sun has been exonerated as a source
of particles in geomagnetic storms, scientists announced last week.
It appears the Earth's own magnetic field accelerates electrons to
nearly the speed of light, although the pressure and energy of solar
flares can help trigger thousand-fold changes in the Earth's Van Allen
Belts of particles in just hours. These changes in the belts may be
linked to the failures of spacecraft, such as the Galaxy 4 failure in
May that knocked out pager service to millions of Americans.
Science News: The discovery of methyl, a product of the breakdown of
methane by sunlight, in Neptune's atmosphere may help explain key
questions about the composition and dynamics of the gas giant. The
discovery may help explain why ethane, formed by the combination of
methyl molecules, is found in the same concentrations in all the gas
giants even though Neptune receives far less sunlight than Jupiter.
It may also help explore turbulence in Neptune's upper atmosphere,
above the level of the planet's methane clouds... Life in the universe
may be a relatively recent phenomena, according to work by astronomer
Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute. His
calculations show that carbon, a key element in the formation of life,
didn't exist in sufficient quantities for the formation of life until
about a few billion years ago. Carbon is formed in the heart of giant
stars and dispersed as the stars enter their final white dwarf stages.
In Brief: Russian scientists are working on an unusual way of dealing
with cosmonauts' dirty underwear, New Scientist magazine reported this
month. Researchers are developing bacteria that can break down the
underwear after use, generating methane that could be harnessed by the
spacecraft. the research could help deal with the problem of storing
soiled clothes during an extended mission, not to mention lend new
meaning to the term "eat my shorts"... While the growing emphasis on
commercial space efforts is certainly beneficial, we think that
someone may be taking it a little too far. A two-page ad in a recent
issue of Forbes for the Timkin company showed a lone astronomer
peering into the night sky. The caption: "Some people wonder, 'Is
there life out there?' We wonder, 'How many bearings do they need?'"
This has been the December 15, 1998, issue of SpaceViews
Update. SpaceViews Update is also availble on the World Wide web from the
SpaceViews home page:
http://www.spaceviews.com/
or via anonymous FTP from ftp.seds.org:
/pub/info/newsletters/spaceviews/update/981215.txt
For editorial questions and article submissions for SpaceViews or
Spaceviews Update, contact the editor, Jeff Foust, at jeff@spaceviews.com.
For questions about the SpaceViews mailing list, please contact
spaceviews-approval@spaceviews.com.
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- SpaceViews (tm) is published for the National Space Society (NSS),
- copyright (C) Boston Chapter of National Space Society
- www.spaceviews.com www.nss.org (jeff@spaceviews.com)
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 21 декабря 1998 (1998-12-21)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Для исследования астероида Hерей будет запущен специальный
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
Для исследования астероида Hерей будет запущен специальный
космический зонд
[SpaceViews] Компания SpaceDev, специализирующаяся на коммерческих
космических исследованиях, подписала контракт с JPL (Jet Propulsion
Laboratory,
Лаборатория по исследованию реактивного движения), в соответствии с
которым займется исследованием возможности использования сети дальней
космической связи Deep Space Network (DSN) агентства NASA для
запланированной миссии космического корабля NEar Earth Asteroid Prospector
(NEAP). Этот корабль должен быть запущен в 2001 г. и к середине 2002 г.
встретиться с астероидом Hерей (Nereus). Антенны-"тарелки" DSN диаметром
34 м должны будут следить за полетом NEAP в дальнем космосе.
NEAP - это первая коммерческая
научная космическая миссия. Корабль NEAP
будет изучать астероид Hерей в течение двух
месяцев. SpaceDev уже заключила соглашение
с Университетом Аризоны по установке на
NEAP фотокамеры и нейтронного
спектрометра. Оборудование будет
поставлено университетом бесплатно, но в
обмен на данные, которые будут получены с
его помощью. Скорее всего аналогичным образом будет происходить
комплектация NEAP и другими исследовательскими приборами. Hа снимке: так
художник изобразил исследование астероида Hерей космическим кораблем
NEAP.
Источник: InfoArt News Agency
Hа сегодня все, пока!
=SANA=
Дата: 21 декабря 1998 (1998-12-21)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Для исследования астероида Hерей... (картинка)
Привет всем!
Вот, свалилось из Internet...
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