Lost Cause
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astronomy & space stuff
- Thread starter linuxgeek
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Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
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- 32,719
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html
Voyager at 30: Looking Beyond and Within
A mission that was supposed to last just five years is celebrating its 30th anniversary this fall. Scientists continue to receive data from the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft as they approach interstellar space.
The twin craft have become a fixture of pop culture, inspiring novels and playing a central role in television shows, music videos, songs and movies from the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these fictional works focus on what would happen if an alien race were able to locate Earth via Voyager's famous golden records, which include sounds and images of Earth. The selections portray people young and old, male and female -- not to mention examples of many other species -- and include information about every continent on the planet, as well as Earth's location in space.
Earlier NASA missions included plaques with information about Earth, in case an intelligent alien race intercepted the probes. This spurred, John Casani, Voyager's first project manager, to appoint astronomer and author Carl Sagan to head a committee to come up with a message for Voyager.
In his book "Murmurs of Earth," Sagan later described how the committee created the record and chose its contents. Physicist Frank Drake suggested the idea of a record that would have pictures on one side and sounds on the other side. The group had less than six weeks to come up with a record that would represent the entire population of Earth -- in addition to the planet itself -- if it were ever discovered by an intelligent alien race.
Although the chances of extraterrestials finding the message are extremely slim, the Voyager golden record has become an icon. "It's the classic message in a bottle. The likelihood of finding it is small, but the payoff is huge if it is found," said Ann Druyan, a science media producer and author. Druyan was appointed creative director of the record project and later married Sagan.
Ed Stone, Voyager's project scientist and former JPL director, explained that although there is almost no chance of the record being found, the record is important as a message to ourselves.
"In a sense it's a unifying message," Stone said. "It's a message from Earth. It contains greetings in many languages, music from many cultures and images that portray our home planet. It's our attempt to say what is Earth, and it's a record of who we think we are." Druyan also explained that the coupling of music and science was an especially compelling reason to devote so much energy to the record.
"The record represented the idea that science and technology could come together with art," said Druyan, who also designed the sound essay.. "It's one of the few totally great stories that we have about humans. It cost the taxpayers virtually nothing, nobody got killed. It was a way to celebrate the glory of being alive on this tiny blue dot in 1977.
"This was the most romantic and beautiful project ever attempted by NASA. It had the sounds of a kiss, a mother saying hello to her newborn baby for the first time, all that glorious music. Remember, this was during the Cold War. Everyone was living with the knowledge that 50,000 nuclear weapons could go off at any time, and there was a lot of angst about the future. This was something positive -- a way to represent Earth and put our best foot forward. That was irresistible."
Carl Sagan's son Nick was six years old in 1977 when the Voyager records were being assembled. The records feature a recording of him as a child saying, "Hello from the children of planet Earth."
"I had no sense of the magnitude of it at the time," said Nick Sagan, who partially followed in his late father's footsteps by pursuing a career as a science fiction writer. "Literally it was my parents putting me in front of a microphone and saying, 'What would you say to extraterrestrials?'"
Sagan said he began to realize what the record meant as he got older, and as a teen he started to realize what a "strange but wonderful honor" it was.
"It's been a challenge for the rest of my life to live up to that honor. It's always there in my subconscious," he said. "My dad inspired so many people to do so many great things -- to not take things at face value and to look at evidence to search for the truth. It's something that I look to as a beacon."
Sagan said that he and his father discussed the Voyager discoveries in the context of their search for life. They got excited when the spacecraft photographed Titan and Europa, and Sagan noted a change in his father as the years went by.
"One of the things that surprised him was that we didn't find life during his lifetime," he said. "He started to realize that if there's no other life out there, and life is so rare, we need to protect ours. I saw a shift in him. That's when he started to become more socially and politically conscious."
In the end, Sagan believes that Voyager and other extraterrestrial missions are important because of their process rather than their discoveries.
"The question is: What's it all about?" he said. "If we do find life it will change us, but if not it will change things also. The act of looking will tell us so much, and we will learn so much about ourselves."
Voyager at 30: Looking Beyond and Within
A mission that was supposed to last just five years is celebrating its 30th anniversary this fall. Scientists continue to receive data from the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft as they approach interstellar space.
The twin craft have become a fixture of pop culture, inspiring novels and playing a central role in television shows, music videos, songs and movies from the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these fictional works focus on what would happen if an alien race were able to locate Earth via Voyager's famous golden records, which include sounds and images of Earth. The selections portray people young and old, male and female -- not to mention examples of many other species -- and include information about every continent on the planet, as well as Earth's location in space.
Earlier NASA missions included plaques with information about Earth, in case an intelligent alien race intercepted the probes. This spurred, John Casani, Voyager's first project manager, to appoint astronomer and author Carl Sagan to head a committee to come up with a message for Voyager.
In his book "Murmurs of Earth," Sagan later described how the committee created the record and chose its contents. Physicist Frank Drake suggested the idea of a record that would have pictures on one side and sounds on the other side. The group had less than six weeks to come up with a record that would represent the entire population of Earth -- in addition to the planet itself -- if it were ever discovered by an intelligent alien race.
Although the chances of extraterrestials finding the message are extremely slim, the Voyager golden record has become an icon. "It's the classic message in a bottle. The likelihood of finding it is small, but the payoff is huge if it is found," said Ann Druyan, a science media producer and author. Druyan was appointed creative director of the record project and later married Sagan.
Ed Stone, Voyager's project scientist and former JPL director, explained that although there is almost no chance of the record being found, the record is important as a message to ourselves.
"In a sense it's a unifying message," Stone said. "It's a message from Earth. It contains greetings in many languages, music from many cultures and images that portray our home planet. It's our attempt to say what is Earth, and it's a record of who we think we are." Druyan also explained that the coupling of music and science was an especially compelling reason to devote so much energy to the record.
"The record represented the idea that science and technology could come together with art," said Druyan, who also designed the sound essay.. "It's one of the few totally great stories that we have about humans. It cost the taxpayers virtually nothing, nobody got killed. It was a way to celebrate the glory of being alive on this tiny blue dot in 1977.
"This was the most romantic and beautiful project ever attempted by NASA. It had the sounds of a kiss, a mother saying hello to her newborn baby for the first time, all that glorious music. Remember, this was during the Cold War. Everyone was living with the knowledge that 50,000 nuclear weapons could go off at any time, and there was a lot of angst about the future. This was something positive -- a way to represent Earth and put our best foot forward. That was irresistible."
Carl Sagan's son Nick was six years old in 1977 when the Voyager records were being assembled. The records feature a recording of him as a child saying, "Hello from the children of planet Earth."
"I had no sense of the magnitude of it at the time," said Nick Sagan, who partially followed in his late father's footsteps by pursuing a career as a science fiction writer. "Literally it was my parents putting me in front of a microphone and saying, 'What would you say to extraterrestrials?'"
Sagan said he began to realize what the record meant as he got older, and as a teen he started to realize what a "strange but wonderful honor" it was.
"It's been a challenge for the rest of my life to live up to that honor. It's always there in my subconscious," he said. "My dad inspired so many people to do so many great things -- to not take things at face value and to look at evidence to search for the truth. It's something that I look to as a beacon."
Sagan said that he and his father discussed the Voyager discoveries in the context of their search for life. They got excited when the spacecraft photographed Titan and Europa, and Sagan noted a change in his father as the years went by.
"One of the things that surprised him was that we didn't find life during his lifetime," he said. "He started to realize that if there's no other life out there, and life is so rare, we need to protect ours. I saw a shift in him. That's when he started to become more socially and politically conscious."
In the end, Sagan believes that Voyager and other extraterrestrial missions are important because of their process rather than their discoveries.
"The question is: What's it all about?" he said. "If we do find life it will change us, but if not it will change things also. The act of looking will tell us so much, and we will learn so much about ourselves."
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
- Posts
- 32,719
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/mer-20070907.html
Mars Rovers Survive Dust Storms, Ready for Next Objectives
09.07.07
PASADENA, Calif. - Two months after sky-darkening dust from severe storms nearly killed NASA's Mars exploration rovers, the solar powered robots are awake and ready to continue their mission.
Opportunity's planned descent into the giant Victoria Crater was delayed, but now the rover is preparing to drive into the 800-meter-diameter crater (half-mile-diameter) as early as Sept. 11.
Spirit, Opportunity's rover twin, also survived the global dust storms. The rovers are 43 months into missions originally planned to last three months. On Sept. 5, Spirit climbed onto its long-term destination called Home Plate, a plateau of layered bedrock bearing clues to an explosive mixture of lava and water.
"These rovers are tough. They faced dusty winds, power starvation and other challenges -- and survived. Now they are back to doing groundbreaking field work on Mars. These spacecraft are amazing," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Victoria Crater contains an exposed layer of bright rocks that may preserve evidence of interaction between the Martian atmosphere and surface from millions of years ago, when the atmosphere might have been different from today's. Victoria is the biggest crater Opportunity has visited.
Martian dust storms in July blocked so much sunlight that researchers grew concerned the rovers' daily energy supplies could plunge too low for survival. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., put Opportunity onto a very low-energy regimen of no movement, few observations and reduced communication with Earth. Skies above both rovers remain dusty but have been clearing gradually since early August.
Dust from the sky has been falling onto both rovers' solar panels, impeding their ability to collect energy from the sun. However, beneficial wind gusts removed some of the new buildup from Opportunity almost as soon as it accumulated.
Opportunity drove to the lip of Victoria Crater in late August and examined possible entry routes. This week, Opportunity has been driving about 40 meters (about 130 feet) toward its planned entry point. The route will provide better access to a top priority target inside the crater: a bright band of rocks about 12 meters (about 40 feet) from the rim. "We chose a point that gives us a straight path down, instead of driving cross-slope from our current location," said Paolo Bellutta, a JPL rover driver plotting the route. "The rock surface on which Opportunity will be driving will provide good traction and control of its path into the crater."
For its first foray into the crater, Opportunity will drive just far enough to get all six wheels in; it will then back out and assess slippage on the inner slope. "Opportunity might be ready for that first 'toe dip' into the crater as early as next week," said JPL's John Callas, rover project manager. "In addition to the drives to get to the entry point, we still need to conduct checkouts of two of Opportunity's instruments before sending the rover into the crater."
The rover team plans to assess if dust has impaired use of the microscopic imager. If that tool is working, the team will use it to observe whether a scanning mirror for the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) can function accurately. This mirror is high on the rover's camera mast. It reflects infrared light from the landscape to the spectrometer at the base of the mast, and it also can be positioned to close the hole in the mast as protection from dust. The last time the spectrometer was used, some aspects of the data suggested the instrument may have been viewing the inside of the mast instead of the Martian landscape.
"If the dust cover or mirror is no longer moving properly, we may have lost the ability to use that instrument on Opportunity," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments. "It would be the first permanent loss of an instrument on either rover. But we'll see."
The instrument already has provided extensive valuable information about rocks and soils in the Meridiani region where Opportunity works. "Mini-TES has told us a lot about the rocks and soils at Meridiani, but we've learned that the differences among Meridiani rocks are often too subtle for it to distinguish," Squyres said. "The same instrument on Spirit, at Gusev Crater, has a much more crucial role for us at this point in the mission because there is such diversity at Gusev." Researchers will rely heavily on a different type of instrument, Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, for analysis of rocks at the bright-band target layer in the crater.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For images and information about the rovers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .
RELATED MULTIMEDIA:
Audio podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-opportunity-20070906.html .
Broadcast-quality audio clips: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/audio/jpl-mer-20070907.html
Video file with animation, images and sound bites airing today on NASA TV.
Mars Rovers Survive Dust Storms, Ready for Next Objectives
09.07.07
PASADENA, Calif. - Two months after sky-darkening dust from severe storms nearly killed NASA's Mars exploration rovers, the solar powered robots are awake and ready to continue their mission.
Opportunity's planned descent into the giant Victoria Crater was delayed, but now the rover is preparing to drive into the 800-meter-diameter crater (half-mile-diameter) as early as Sept. 11.
Spirit, Opportunity's rover twin, also survived the global dust storms. The rovers are 43 months into missions originally planned to last three months. On Sept. 5, Spirit climbed onto its long-term destination called Home Plate, a plateau of layered bedrock bearing clues to an explosive mixture of lava and water.
"These rovers are tough. They faced dusty winds, power starvation and other challenges -- and survived. Now they are back to doing groundbreaking field work on Mars. These spacecraft are amazing," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Victoria Crater contains an exposed layer of bright rocks that may preserve evidence of interaction between the Martian atmosphere and surface from millions of years ago, when the atmosphere might have been different from today's. Victoria is the biggest crater Opportunity has visited.
Martian dust storms in July blocked so much sunlight that researchers grew concerned the rovers' daily energy supplies could plunge too low for survival. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., put Opportunity onto a very low-energy regimen of no movement, few observations and reduced communication with Earth. Skies above both rovers remain dusty but have been clearing gradually since early August.
Dust from the sky has been falling onto both rovers' solar panels, impeding their ability to collect energy from the sun. However, beneficial wind gusts removed some of the new buildup from Opportunity almost as soon as it accumulated.
Opportunity drove to the lip of Victoria Crater in late August and examined possible entry routes. This week, Opportunity has been driving about 40 meters (about 130 feet) toward its planned entry point. The route will provide better access to a top priority target inside the crater: a bright band of rocks about 12 meters (about 40 feet) from the rim. "We chose a point that gives us a straight path down, instead of driving cross-slope from our current location," said Paolo Bellutta, a JPL rover driver plotting the route. "The rock surface on which Opportunity will be driving will provide good traction and control of its path into the crater."
For its first foray into the crater, Opportunity will drive just far enough to get all six wheels in; it will then back out and assess slippage on the inner slope. "Opportunity might be ready for that first 'toe dip' into the crater as early as next week," said JPL's John Callas, rover project manager. "In addition to the drives to get to the entry point, we still need to conduct checkouts of two of Opportunity's instruments before sending the rover into the crater."
The rover team plans to assess if dust has impaired use of the microscopic imager. If that tool is working, the team will use it to observe whether a scanning mirror for the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) can function accurately. This mirror is high on the rover's camera mast. It reflects infrared light from the landscape to the spectrometer at the base of the mast, and it also can be positioned to close the hole in the mast as protection from dust. The last time the spectrometer was used, some aspects of the data suggested the instrument may have been viewing the inside of the mast instead of the Martian landscape.
"If the dust cover or mirror is no longer moving properly, we may have lost the ability to use that instrument on Opportunity," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments. "It would be the first permanent loss of an instrument on either rover. But we'll see."
The instrument already has provided extensive valuable information about rocks and soils in the Meridiani region where Opportunity works. "Mini-TES has told us a lot about the rocks and soils at Meridiani, but we've learned that the differences among Meridiani rocks are often too subtle for it to distinguish," Squyres said. "The same instrument on Spirit, at Gusev Crater, has a much more crucial role for us at this point in the mission because there is such diversity at Gusev." Researchers will rely heavily on a different type of instrument, Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, for analysis of rocks at the bright-band target layer in the crater.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For images and information about the rovers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .
RELATED MULTIMEDIA:
Audio podcast: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/jpl-opportunity-20070906.html .
Broadcast-quality audio clips: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/audio/jpl-mer-20070907.html
Video file with animation, images and sound bites airing today on NASA TV.
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
Happy B'Day V'Ger!
Voyager's last view of home circa 1990.
http://www.astrospaceweb.com/EARTH%20FROM%20VOYAGER%201.jpg
It's amazing all the tech has held up so long~
http://www.astrospaceweb.com/message.html
Voyager's last view of home circa 1990.
http://www.astrospaceweb.com/EARTH%20FROM%20VOYAGER%201.jpg
It's amazing all the tech has held up so long~
http://www.astrospaceweb.com/message.html
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
- Posts
- 32,719
Like playing with rockets and robots? Maybe it can make you some money...
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
Fagin
little fishie
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
- 101,650
speaking of going to the moon...
Japan Launches Kaguya Probe on Moon Mission
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 13 September 2007
9:45 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070224_h2a_01.jpg
A Japanese spacecraft touted to be the largest aimed at the moon since NASA's Apollo era rocketed into space late Thursday on an ambitious mission to study the origins of Earth's nearest neighbor.
The three-ton Kaguya lunar orbiter rode its H-2A rocket moonward at about 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 Sept. 13 GMT), though it was Friday morning at Japan's island-based Tanegashima Space Center launch site. The probe was slated to circle the Earth twice before beginning a five-day trek to the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said.
Formally known as SELENE, short for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer, Kaguya carries 14 science instruments and two small microsatellites to make detailed maps of the moon's surface, probe its interior and study the lunar gravitational field.
"All of the data gathered by Kaguya will bring us new scientific knowledge for research of the origin and evolution of the moon," JAXA's SELENE project manager Yoshisada Takizawa has said on the agency's Web site.
Kaguya is named after Kaguya-hime, a moon princess in a well-known Japanese folktale, and is carrying names and messages from people on Earth as part of JAXA's "Wish Upon the Moon" campaign. The probe is also equipped with a high-definition camera that is designed to record still and video images of the Earth as it rises above the lunar surface.
"The moon is one of the favorite planetary bodies for Japanese," Shinichi Sobue, a JAXA Kaguya science coordinator and spokesperson, told SPACE.com. "I think the Japanese people are looking forward to this, and especially to see the Earth rising from the moon."
Kaguya's 55 billion-yen (about $480 million) mission is slated to run about one year, Sobue said. The mission's launch comes after eight years of development and a series of delays, most recently due to improperly installed condensers on Kaguya's small satellite passengers. Bad weather at the probe's launch site also prevented a planned Wednesday night liftoff, JAXA said.
While Kaguya is not Japan's first unmanned lunar mission, it is the country's most ambitious. In 1990, Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft to make a series of lunar flybys, deploy a small Hagamordo satellite near the moon and enter lunar orbit. Hiten was intentionally crashed into the moon in 1993.
Sobue said Hiten's flight primary served as a technology test for future spacecraft, making Kaguya Japan's first all-science mission to the moon. JAXA will share the probe's gravity field measurements with NASA researchers in the U.S. - who are preparing to fly their own Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to fly next year - and is looking ahead to possible manned moon expeditions in the future, Sobue added.
"[JAXA] is exploring the possibilities to perform manned activities on the moon and to utilize the moon for future space development activities," Takizawa has said in past statements.
Sobue added that Kaguya's SELENE effort is part of JAXA's larger space exploration initiative to participate in international manned lunar missions and launch an unmanned Japanese moon lander by 2010.
"We hope that, by using our SELENE data, we'll find a good place for a future lunar landing," Sobue said.
Kaguya is the first of a series of new moon missions by different countries to fly over the next two years. China's Chang'e-1 lunar orbiter is slated to fly sometime later this year, while NASA's LRO and India's Chandrayaan-1 are due to lift off in 2008.
http://www******.com/missionlaunches/070913_kaguya_launchday.html
Japan Launches Kaguya Probe on Moon Mission
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 13 September 2007
9:45 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070224_h2a_01.jpg
A Japanese spacecraft touted to be the largest aimed at the moon since NASA's Apollo era rocketed into space late Thursday on an ambitious mission to study the origins of Earth's nearest neighbor.
The three-ton Kaguya lunar orbiter rode its H-2A rocket moonward at about 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 Sept. 13 GMT), though it was Friday morning at Japan's island-based Tanegashima Space Center launch site. The probe was slated to circle the Earth twice before beginning a five-day trek to the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said.
Formally known as SELENE, short for SELenological and ENgineering Explorer, Kaguya carries 14 science instruments and two small microsatellites to make detailed maps of the moon's surface, probe its interior and study the lunar gravitational field.
"All of the data gathered by Kaguya will bring us new scientific knowledge for research of the origin and evolution of the moon," JAXA's SELENE project manager Yoshisada Takizawa has said on the agency's Web site.
Kaguya is named after Kaguya-hime, a moon princess in a well-known Japanese folktale, and is carrying names and messages from people on Earth as part of JAXA's "Wish Upon the Moon" campaign. The probe is also equipped with a high-definition camera that is designed to record still and video images of the Earth as it rises above the lunar surface.
"The moon is one of the favorite planetary bodies for Japanese," Shinichi Sobue, a JAXA Kaguya science coordinator and spokesperson, told SPACE.com. "I think the Japanese people are looking forward to this, and especially to see the Earth rising from the moon."
Kaguya's 55 billion-yen (about $480 million) mission is slated to run about one year, Sobue said. The mission's launch comes after eight years of development and a series of delays, most recently due to improperly installed condensers on Kaguya's small satellite passengers. Bad weather at the probe's launch site also prevented a planned Wednesday night liftoff, JAXA said.
While Kaguya is not Japan's first unmanned lunar mission, it is the country's most ambitious. In 1990, Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft to make a series of lunar flybys, deploy a small Hagamordo satellite near the moon and enter lunar orbit. Hiten was intentionally crashed into the moon in 1993.
Sobue said Hiten's flight primary served as a technology test for future spacecraft, making Kaguya Japan's first all-science mission to the moon. JAXA will share the probe's gravity field measurements with NASA researchers in the U.S. - who are preparing to fly their own Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to fly next year - and is looking ahead to possible manned moon expeditions in the future, Sobue added.
"[JAXA] is exploring the possibilities to perform manned activities on the moon and to utilize the moon for future space development activities," Takizawa has said in past statements.
Sobue added that Kaguya's SELENE effort is part of JAXA's larger space exploration initiative to participate in international manned lunar missions and launch an unmanned Japanese moon lander by 2010.
"We hope that, by using our SELENE data, we'll find a good place for a future lunar landing," Sobue said.
Kaguya is the first of a series of new moon missions by different countries to fly over the next two years. China's Chang'e-1 lunar orbiter is slated to fly sometime later this year, while NASA's LRO and India's Chandrayaan-1 are due to lift off in 2008.
http://www******.com/missionlaunches/070913_kaguya_launchday.html
Fagin
little fishie
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
- 101,650
Kaguya Update
Japan's Moon-Bound Probe Performing Well, Officials Say
By Carl Freire
Associated Press Writer
posted: 19 September 2007
1:56 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070912_kaguya_art_01.jpg
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's space agency said Wednesday that its lunar probe has performed flawlessly so far, five days after the craft's launch marked a giant step forward for Tokyo in Asia's undeclared space race.
The Selenological and Engineering Explorer -- or SELENE -- probe was launched last Friday and is slated to orbit the Earth twice before proceeding to the moon where it will gather data to be used to study its evolution.
"The flight has been proceeding smoothly to this point. We haven't had any reports of problems with any of the equipment," said Seiji Toyama, a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
The 32-billion yen (US$279 million; euro201 million) SELENE began the first of a series of course adjustment maneuvers Wednesday morning as it neared the end of its first orbit around the Earth, Toyama said.
JAXA describes the SELENE project as the largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program in terms of overall scope and ambition, outpacing the former Soviet Union's Luna program and NASA's Clementine and Lunar Prospector projects.
The SELENE's mission involves placing the main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) and deploying the two smaller satellites in polar orbits. Researchers will use data gathered by the probes to study the moon's origin and evolution.
The main orbiter will remain in position for about a year.
The probe's launch, which came four years behind JAXA's original schedule, comes as China is rumored to be planning to launch its own lunar probe.
The country's minister of defense and technology told China Central Television in July all was ready for a launch "by the end of the year."
China's Chang'e 1 orbiter will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of the lunar surface and study its dust.
Japan launched a moon probe in 1990, but that was a flyby mission, unlike SELENE, which is intended to orbit the moon.
It canceled another moon shot, LUNAR-A, that was to have been launched in 2004 but had been repeatedly postponed because of mechanical and fiscal problems.
The SELINE was launched aboard one of the space program's mainstay H-2A rockets from Tanegashima, the remote island where the agency's space center is located.
Japan's Moon-Bound Probe Performing Well, Officials Say
By Carl Freire
Associated Press Writer
posted: 19 September 2007
1:56 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070912_kaguya_art_01.jpg
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's space agency said Wednesday that its lunar probe has performed flawlessly so far, five days after the craft's launch marked a giant step forward for Tokyo in Asia's undeclared space race.
The Selenological and Engineering Explorer -- or SELENE -- probe was launched last Friday and is slated to orbit the Earth twice before proceeding to the moon where it will gather data to be used to study its evolution.
"The flight has been proceeding smoothly to this point. We haven't had any reports of problems with any of the equipment," said Seiji Toyama, a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
The 32-billion yen (US$279 million; euro201 million) SELENE began the first of a series of course adjustment maneuvers Wednesday morning as it neared the end of its first orbit around the Earth, Toyama said.
JAXA describes the SELENE project as the largest lunar mission since the U.S. Apollo program in terms of overall scope and ambition, outpacing the former Soviet Union's Luna program and NASA's Clementine and Lunar Prospector projects.
The SELENE's mission involves placing the main satellite in orbit at an altitude of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) and deploying the two smaller satellites in polar orbits. Researchers will use data gathered by the probes to study the moon's origin and evolution.
The main orbiter will remain in position for about a year.
The probe's launch, which came four years behind JAXA's original schedule, comes as China is rumored to be planning to launch its own lunar probe.
The country's minister of defense and technology told China Central Television in July all was ready for a launch "by the end of the year."
China's Chang'e 1 orbiter will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of the lunar surface and study its dust.
Japan launched a moon probe in 1990, but that was a flyby mission, unlike SELENE, which is intended to orbit the moon.
It canceled another moon shot, LUNAR-A, that was to have been launched in 2004 but had been repeatedly postponed because of mechanical and fiscal problems.
The SELINE was launched aboard one of the space program's mainstay H-2A rockets from Tanegashima, the remote island where the agency's space center is located.
Fagin
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- Jul 15, 2004
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Hope for Water on Mars Dims with Sharp New Images
By Jeanna Bryner
Staff Writer
posted: 20 September 2007
06:16 pm ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070920_mars_gullies_01.jpg
New images obtained by a sharp-eyed Martian satellite reveal that some Red Planet features once thought to have been carved by flowing water were in fact created by other processes.
The images were taken during the first 100 days of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission and are detailed in a special section of the Sept. 21 issue of the journal Science.
While the results don't confirm or deny the existence of liquid water on Mars' surface, they are no less fascinating, say the scientists involved. For instance, one team found no evidence that flowing water caused bright deposits on the planet. Instead, the scientists proposed dry landslides caused the deposits.
"All findings are good findings," said one team leader Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona.
Philip Christensen of Arizona State University said the MRO results reiterate that "Mars has been fairly dry for the recent past and we need to be careful and not overestimate how much water may have been present, or may have shaped the surface" in ancient times.
"I have been a 'dry Mars guy' for a long time," Christensen said. "These findings are basically saying you look at very high resolution and you do see some evidence for water, there's no disputing that. But you don't see an overwhelming amount of evidence for water."
Lava explosions
The bus-sized MRO orbiting spacecraft, launched in 2005, is equipped with six instruments, including the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, or HiRISE, which provides 10 times the resolution of any past Mars imagers. While the MRO images are in some cases inconclusive on the question of Martian water, they are painting a picture of the Martian surface for scientists in unprecedented detail.
In some cases, the images refute past speculation that some of the features were created by flowing water.
A team led by Wendy Jaeger of the U.S. Geological Survey in Arizona analyzed HiRISE images of the Athabasca Valles, a young outflow channel system speculated previously to have been carved out by past catastrophic floods.
"This research certainly shows that isn't true," Jaeger said. "And in fact that entire surface is coated with a thin layer of solidified lava, very hard rock that's almost preserved the channel system."
Thei findings suggest that rather than flooding, steam explosions left behind trails of cone-shaped features found on the floor of Athabasca Valles.
"When water and lava interact it causes a steam explosion," Jaeger told SPACE.com. "And so the lava-covered ground had ground ice in it. And as that water was heated it exploded in steam explosions through the lava."
Dry landslides
McEwen led another research team, which studied a variety of landforms also thought to be associated with past water on Mars. They examined images of gully deposits that had been detected last year by the Mars Global Surveyor. The gully deposits were not present in 1999 images but appeared by 2004. The before-and-after images raised hopes that modern flows of liquid water created the deposits. However, observations from MRO suggest a dry origin, McEwen said.
Both chemical analyses and images of one of the fresh deposits showed no signs of frost or ice and no evidence for even hydrated minerals, all of which could have given the deposits a "bright" appearance.
"We think dry landsliding could've created the bright deposits," McEwen said.
The slopes above this deposit and five other locations are steep enough for sand or loose, dry dust to flow down the gullies, the scientists say. Material uphill could be the source.
In science, discrediting a theory can be just as important as supporting one. "Some science reporters are acting as if we should be disappointed these new bright deposits weren't deposited by water," McEwen said. "We're excited by any advance in understanding Mars no matter what it is."
No ocean
The researchers also ruled out a hypothesis for an ancient ocean on Mars.
The Vastitas Borealis Formation, which covers low-lying northern plains of Mars, was thought to be the result of fine-grained deposits left by an ancient ocean. The new HiRISE images reveal the area, which appeared as flat and featureless in prior missions, is peppered with large boulders.
The mixed-bag of findings intrigue scientists involved.
While Mars is dry now, there remains a lot of water locked up as ice at the poles and beneath the surface away from the poles.
"Ninety-nine percent of Mars is pretty dry and pretty average and not all that exciting," Christensen said. "But the one percent is extremely interesting. So imagine stumbling across an oasis or hot spring out in the middle of a desert. It's a barren desert but gosh that little oasis sure looks attractive."
As an astrobiologist, Christensen says Mars holds plenty of hideouts for life, "I think there are still plenty of places to look for life on Mars."
link
By Jeanna Bryner
Staff Writer
posted: 20 September 2007
06:16 pm ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070920_mars_gullies_01.jpg
New images obtained by a sharp-eyed Martian satellite reveal that some Red Planet features once thought to have been carved by flowing water were in fact created by other processes.
The images were taken during the first 100 days of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission and are detailed in a special section of the Sept. 21 issue of the journal Science.
While the results don't confirm or deny the existence of liquid water on Mars' surface, they are no less fascinating, say the scientists involved. For instance, one team found no evidence that flowing water caused bright deposits on the planet. Instead, the scientists proposed dry landslides caused the deposits.
"All findings are good findings," said one team leader Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona.
Philip Christensen of Arizona State University said the MRO results reiterate that "Mars has been fairly dry for the recent past and we need to be careful and not overestimate how much water may have been present, or may have shaped the surface" in ancient times.
"I have been a 'dry Mars guy' for a long time," Christensen said. "These findings are basically saying you look at very high resolution and you do see some evidence for water, there's no disputing that. But you don't see an overwhelming amount of evidence for water."
Lava explosions
The bus-sized MRO orbiting spacecraft, launched in 2005, is equipped with six instruments, including the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, or HiRISE, which provides 10 times the resolution of any past Mars imagers. While the MRO images are in some cases inconclusive on the question of Martian water, they are painting a picture of the Martian surface for scientists in unprecedented detail.
In some cases, the images refute past speculation that some of the features were created by flowing water.
A team led by Wendy Jaeger of the U.S. Geological Survey in Arizona analyzed HiRISE images of the Athabasca Valles, a young outflow channel system speculated previously to have been carved out by past catastrophic floods.
"This research certainly shows that isn't true," Jaeger said. "And in fact that entire surface is coated with a thin layer of solidified lava, very hard rock that's almost preserved the channel system."
Thei findings suggest that rather than flooding, steam explosions left behind trails of cone-shaped features found on the floor of Athabasca Valles.
"When water and lava interact it causes a steam explosion," Jaeger told SPACE.com. "And so the lava-covered ground had ground ice in it. And as that water was heated it exploded in steam explosions through the lava."
Dry landslides
McEwen led another research team, which studied a variety of landforms also thought to be associated with past water on Mars. They examined images of gully deposits that had been detected last year by the Mars Global Surveyor. The gully deposits were not present in 1999 images but appeared by 2004. The before-and-after images raised hopes that modern flows of liquid water created the deposits. However, observations from MRO suggest a dry origin, McEwen said.
Both chemical analyses and images of one of the fresh deposits showed no signs of frost or ice and no evidence for even hydrated minerals, all of which could have given the deposits a "bright" appearance.
"We think dry landsliding could've created the bright deposits," McEwen said.
The slopes above this deposit and five other locations are steep enough for sand or loose, dry dust to flow down the gullies, the scientists say. Material uphill could be the source.
In science, discrediting a theory can be just as important as supporting one. "Some science reporters are acting as if we should be disappointed these new bright deposits weren't deposited by water," McEwen said. "We're excited by any advance in understanding Mars no matter what it is."
No ocean
The researchers also ruled out a hypothesis for an ancient ocean on Mars.
The Vastitas Borealis Formation, which covers low-lying northern plains of Mars, was thought to be the result of fine-grained deposits left by an ancient ocean. The new HiRISE images reveal the area, which appeared as flat and featureless in prior missions, is peppered with large boulders.
The mixed-bag of findings intrigue scientists involved.
While Mars is dry now, there remains a lot of water locked up as ice at the poles and beneath the surface away from the poles.
"Ninety-nine percent of Mars is pretty dry and pretty average and not all that exciting," Christensen said. "But the one percent is extremely interesting. So imagine stumbling across an oasis or hot spring out in the middle of a desert. It's a barren desert but gosh that little oasis sure looks attractive."
As an astrobiologist, Christensen says Mars holds plenty of hideouts for life, "I think there are still plenty of places to look for life on Mars."
link
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
Apply now!
Don't miss your chance to fly on the Orion!
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5146727.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/objects/images/orion_cev_485.jpg
Don't miss your chance to fly on the Orion!
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5146727.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/objects/images/orion_cev_485.jpg
Fagin
little fishie
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- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
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Now Hiring
NASA Begins Hunt for New Astronauts
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 18 September 2007
3:10 p.m. ET
Astronaut hopefuls with the right stuff have a fresh chance to reach for the International Space Station and, ultimately, the moon, thanks to a new NASA hunt for qualified spaceflyers.
The U.S. space agency announced Tuesday that it is accepting applications for its 2009 Astronaut Candidate Class. Would-be spaceflyers have until July 1, 2008 to apply, the agency said.
"They would begin duty at the Johnson Space Center in August 2009," NASA spokesperson Katherine Trinidad told SPACE.com of the new astronauts. Based in Houston, Texas, the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is home to NASA's space shuttle and ISS mission controls, as well as its astronaut corps.
After completing basic training, members of the 2009 astronaut class could go on to fly long-duration flights to the ISS or lunar flights aboard NASA's future Orion Crew Exploration Vehicles, NASA officials said.
Trinidad said there are currently 91 active NASA astronauts training for spaceflights or performing technical duties. An additional 15 international spaceflyers are also on active duty, she added.
To be considered for NASA's astronaut corps, applicants must hold a bachelor's degree in engineering, science or mathematics and have three years of relevant professional experience, the space agency said.
While most successful applicants are veteran engineers, scientists or pilots of high-performance jets, NASA also urged educators to apply for its newest class of astronauts. Experienced teachers of kindergarten through the 12th grade level are also considered qualified, NASA officials added.
There are currently four educator astronauts in NASA's spaceflying ranks, the first of whom -- former Idaho schoolteacher Barbara Morgan -- completed her first spaceflight last month aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Morgan participated in ISS construction during NASA's STS-118 mission in August and served as backup to the agency's first Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe before the 1986 Challenger accident.
NASA will announce the final selections for the new astronaut class in early 2009 after a six-month interview and evaluation process.
"We look forward to gathering applications and then being able to select from the largest pool possible," said veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa, NASA's chief of flight crew operations at JSC, in a statement.
The 2009 astronaut candidates will be NASA's first new space-bound class since 2004, when 11 new spaceflyers joined the U.S. space agency. Included in the 2004 group were three educator astronauts. A trio of spaceflyers from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also trained alongside the 2004 class.
To apply for NASA's 2009 astronaut class, visit here: http://www.usajobs.gov
Click here or call (281) 483-5907 for more information via NASA's Astronaut Selection Office.
NASA Begins Hunt for New Astronauts
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 18 September 2007
3:10 p.m. ET
Astronaut hopefuls with the right stuff have a fresh chance to reach for the International Space Station and, ultimately, the moon, thanks to a new NASA hunt for qualified spaceflyers.
The U.S. space agency announced Tuesday that it is accepting applications for its 2009 Astronaut Candidate Class. Would-be spaceflyers have until July 1, 2008 to apply, the agency said.
"They would begin duty at the Johnson Space Center in August 2009," NASA spokesperson Katherine Trinidad told SPACE.com of the new astronauts. Based in Houston, Texas, the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is home to NASA's space shuttle and ISS mission controls, as well as its astronaut corps.
After completing basic training, members of the 2009 astronaut class could go on to fly long-duration flights to the ISS or lunar flights aboard NASA's future Orion Crew Exploration Vehicles, NASA officials said.
Trinidad said there are currently 91 active NASA astronauts training for spaceflights or performing technical duties. An additional 15 international spaceflyers are also on active duty, she added.
To be considered for NASA's astronaut corps, applicants must hold a bachelor's degree in engineering, science or mathematics and have three years of relevant professional experience, the space agency said.
While most successful applicants are veteran engineers, scientists or pilots of high-performance jets, NASA also urged educators to apply for its newest class of astronauts. Experienced teachers of kindergarten through the 12th grade level are also considered qualified, NASA officials added.
There are currently four educator astronauts in NASA's spaceflying ranks, the first of whom -- former Idaho schoolteacher Barbara Morgan -- completed her first spaceflight last month aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Morgan participated in ISS construction during NASA's STS-118 mission in August and served as backup to the agency's first Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe before the 1986 Challenger accident.
NASA will announce the final selections for the new astronaut class in early 2009 after a six-month interview and evaluation process.
"We look forward to gathering applications and then being able to select from the largest pool possible," said veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa, NASA's chief of flight crew operations at JSC, in a statement.
The 2009 astronaut candidates will be NASA's first new space-bound class since 2004, when 11 new spaceflyers joined the U.S. space agency. Included in the 2004 group were three educator astronauts. A trio of spaceflyers from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also trained alongside the 2004 class.
To apply for NASA's 2009 astronaut class, visit here: http://www.usajobs.gov
Click here or call (281) 483-5907 for more information via NASA's Astronaut Selection Office.
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
"The researchers also ruled out a hypothesis for an ancient ocean on Mars."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
http://www.hypatia-lovers.com/images/Mars_Express_Image_of_Water_Ice_in_Martian_Crater_Lo-Res.jpg
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
http://www.hypatia-lovers.com/images/Mars_Express_Image_of_Water_Ice_in_Martian_Crater_Lo-Res.jpg
thør
Karhu-er
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- May 29, 2002
- Posts
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Space Germs?
Meteorite Brings Mysterious Illness
The Associated Press
LIMA, Peru -- A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the weekend, experts confirmed. But they were still puzzling over claims that it gave off fumes that sickened 200 people.
Local residents told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning.
Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said Wednesday that a geologist had confirmed that it was a "rocky meteorite," based on the fragments analyzed.
He said water in the meteorite's muddy crater boiled for about 10 minutes from the heat and could have given off a vapor that sickened people, and scientists were taking water samples.
Peasants living near the crater said they had smelled a sulfurous odor for at least an hour after the meteorite struck and that it had provoked upset stomachs and headaches.
Meteorite Brings Mysterious Illness
The Associated Press
LIMA, Peru -- A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the weekend, experts confirmed. But they were still puzzling over claims that it gave off fumes that sickened 200 people.
Local residents told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning.
Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said Wednesday that a geologist had confirmed that it was a "rocky meteorite," based on the fragments analyzed.
He said water in the meteorite's muddy crater boiled for about 10 minutes from the heat and could have given off a vapor that sickened people, and scientists were taking water samples.
Peasants living near the crater said they had smelled a sulfurous odor for at least an hour after the meteorite struck and that it had provoked upset stomachs and headaches.
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
"Why does anything weird and alien always happen in Peru or Brazil???"
CARNIVAL!
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/media/images/galleries/music/brazil_carnival/medium/rio1.jpg
CARNIVAL!
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/media/images/galleries/music/brazil_carnival/medium/rio1.jpg
Fagin
little fishie
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
- 101,650
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Posts
- 30,949
Perfect timing~
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/ns_marsmoon_070928_ff.jpg
http://www******.com/spacewatch/070928_ns_mars_watch.html
<snip>Mars, the only planet whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, is now moving toward the best viewing position it will provide to us until the year 2014. Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes.<snip>
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/ns_marsmoon_070928_ff.jpg
http://www******.com/spacewatch/070928_ns_mars_watch.html
<snip>Mars, the only planet whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, is now moving toward the best viewing position it will provide to us until the year 2014. Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes.<snip>
