Unofficial

  

Space Corner -

What's News in Space

August 2007

  


Unofficial

By Ron Klair
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/front.html

    

SPACE STATION - Has 15th Residents!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/
STEREO (Solar Observatory) - Now on Orbit
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.htmlNEW
NEW HORIZONS - Inflight to Explore Pluto
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER - Now on Orbit
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
MARS EXPEDITION ROVERS ( Now on Surface)
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/
MARS ODYSSEY 2001 - Now on Orbit
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/
CASSINI - Now Orbiting SATURN
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Phoenix - Mars Mission Lander (Now in flight to Mars)
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
DAWN - Asteroid Orbiter (To be launched on 7 Sep 2007)
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/index.asp
SPACE SHUTTLE - Launched 8 August 2007
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/

1. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Expedition 15 crew members are Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Sunita Williams. Flight Engineer Sunita Williams began work with the second session of the new Elastic Memory Composite Hinge experiment, which studies the performance of an advanced type of composite hinge to determine its suitability for use in space. - see URL:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/index.html
When complete the million-pound space station will include six laboratories with more space for research than any spacecraft ever built. Now orbiting at 240 miles the 236-ton, 146-foot long, 240 feet wide, 90 feet high. The ISS can be viewed from the ground - for opportunities see URL:-
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

2. STEREO - Solar Observatory (Launched Aug 2006 )
The STEREO mission provides a totally new perspective on solar eruptions by capturing images of coronal mass ejections and background events from two observatories at the same time. STEREO's twin observatories will be offset from one another. One observatory will be placed "ahead" of the Earth in its orbit, and using a series of lunar swingbys, the other will travel "behind.". This placement allows the STEREO observatories to obtain 3-D images of the sun starting this past April. Scientists will be able to examine the structure, and learn more about the nature and origin solar objects. For details and 3D Solar Images see:-
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

3. New Horizons (Launched Jan 2006)
Now inflight to Pluto and it's moon Charon that will take 9 1/2 years. Now passed Jupiter and now on it's interplanetary cruise. It's mission is to transmit images and data back to Earth. It will then continue on into the Kuiper Belt where it will fly by a number of Kuiper Belt Objects. The primary objectives are to characterize the geology and morphology of Pluto and Charon, including, mapping the surface of each and search for additional satellites. See URL:-
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
For Images of Pluto see URL:-
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/PL_Hubble_Space_Telescope_page1.html

4. MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (Launched Aug 2005 )
Arrived Mars March 2006 after a seven-month flight. The mission will inspect the red planet in fine detail and assist future landers. The orbiter carries six scientific instruments for examining the surface, atmosphere and subsurface of Mars in unprecedented detail from low orbit. For example, its high-resolution camera will reveal surface features as small as a dishwasher. NASA expects to get several times more data about Mars from the orbiter than from all previous Martian missions combined. To follow exploration details see:-
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/index.html

5. MARS EXPEDITION ROVERS - "SPIRIT" and "OPPORTUNITY"
Slight clearing of still-dusty Martian skies has improved the energy situation for both Spirit and Opportunity, allowing controllers to increase the rovers' science observations. The two rovers landed three weeks apart in January 2004 on opposite sides of Mars and are closely studying the surface of the planet. Each Mars Rover is independent of its stationary lander, capable of communicating directly with Earth and carrying a full set of cameras for scouting locations. At selected rocks it will extend an arm with tools for close-up analysis. Landing sites were selected as places likely to hold clues on the history of water. To follow exploration details see:-
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html
For a great video of the Mars Mission see URL:-
http://realserver1.jpl.nasa.gov:8080/ramgen/Video-New-MER-Animation-030606.rm?mode=compact

6. MARS ODYSSEY 2001  (Launched Apr 2001)
After over 2080 days of orbiting Mars, Odyssey has changed our understanding of the materials on and below the surface and explored the planet from February 2002 through September 2006. It is now in the extended mission phase and continues mapping the amount and distribution of chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface and will especially look for hydrogen, most likely in the form of water ice in the shallow subsurface of Mars. It will also record the radiation environment in low Mars orbit to determine the radiation-related risk to any future human explorers who may one day go to Mars. Follow mission progress at:-
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/

7. CASSINI - Mission to SATURN  (Launched Oct 1997)
Launched from KSC the spacecraft began orbiting 1 July 2004 and will orbit Saturn and its moons for four years. On 15 January 2005 the European Space Agency (ESA) had a successful touchdown of its Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan. There is definitive evidence of the presence of lakes filled with liquid methane on Saturn's moon Titan. For pictures of Jupiter and information on where Cassini is today, see URLs:-
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/current/cassini.html

8. Phoenix - Mars Mission Lander (Launched 4 Aug 2007)
Now on 10 month flight - to arrive Mars in May 2008. This Lander will look beneath a frigid arctic landscape for conditions favorable to life. Instead of roving to hills or craters, The Lander will claw down into the icy soil of the Red Planet's northern plains. The robot will investigate whether frozen water near the Martian surface might periodically melt enough to sustain a livable environment for microbes. For current schedule see URL:-
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

9. DAWN - Asteroid Orbiter (To be launched on 7 Sep 2007)\
Dawn's mission is to address the role of size and water in determining the evolution of planets. Ceres and Vesta are the proper bodies for addressing this question, as they are the most massive of the protoplanets, baby planets whose growth was interrupted by the formation of Jupiter. Ceres is very primitive and wet while Vesta is evolved and dry. For current schedule see URL:-
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/index.asp

10. SPACE SHUTTLE - Launched by USA (a Team of Lockheed Martin & Boeing)
The STS-118 Space Shuttle Endeavour mission is the 22nd shuttle flight to the International Space Station. It will continue space station construction by delivering a third starboard truss segment. Launched 8 August 2007. For schedule update see URL:-
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-118/index.html
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Space Calendar for August / September 2007

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( Ref: Ron Baalke, Jet Propulsion Lab )

- One Astronomical Unit (1.0 AU) = distance from Earth to Sun (93,000,000 miles)
- Only asteroids passing near Earth under 1/10 th of this distance are noted.