The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft is expected to re-enter the Earth?s atmosphere sometime on Thursday morning. Although they don?t know where or when it will crash – as far South as Brisbane, Australia, and as far North as Orlando, Florida – NASA believes that most of the spacecraft will be destroyed on re-entry with some pieces crashing into the ocean. Unlike many large spacecraft, the EUVE wasn?t built with a propulsion system to control its crash location. During its eight years in orbit, the EUVE observed over 1,000 objects in the extreme ultraviolet spectrum.
New Image of the Horsehead Nebula
A new, high-resolution image has been taken of one of the most famous astronomical objects in the night sky ? the Horsehead Nebula, which is located in the constellation of Orion. This beautiful photograph is a composite image made from three separate images taken in February 2000 by the 8.2 metre VLT KUEYEN telescope on Paranal in Chile.
Five New Martian Meteorites Discovered
Scientists believe they’ve found an additional five meteorites that originated from the planet Mars. The new rocks were discovered during recent expeditions to Antarctica and the deserts of the Middle East and Africa ? the best places for discovering the precious objects from space. This brings the total number of known Martian rocks to 24, and will provide researchers with additional specimens to analyze for evidence of past (or current) life on Mars.
Space News for July 30, 1999
Deep Space 1 Missed Photo Opportunity with Asteroid
NASA’s advanced Deep Space 1 probe missed its chance to catch pictures of Asteroid Braille when it passed only 10 miles away. The spacecraft’s auto-navigation system lost track of the asteroid’s target at the last minute, and it only caught photos of open space.
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Titan Covered by Oily Oceans
Recent photographs from the Keck observatory at Hawaii have revealed oceans of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan – including many found on Earth before life developed. When it reaches Saturn in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft will drop a probe onto the surface of Titan to accurately determine the composition of its oceans.
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Kazakhstan-Russian Commission Meets to Discuss Launch Problems
A joint commission of Russian and Kazakhstan officials met today to try and iron out their recent problems. After its recent ban of all launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Kazakhstan government has wanted more control and a larger revenue share of Russian space launches.
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Lunar Eclipse Doesn’t Damage Prospector
Although it was a serious concern to NASA engineers, Lunar Prospector didn’t suffer any damage when it passed into a partial lunar eclipse – away from the Sun’s power to recharge its batteries. Prospector will crash onto the moon’s surface on Saturday in the hope of discovering ice.
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Space News for July 29, 1999
Moon Crash Will Also Help Fulfill Geologist’s Last Wish
Killed in a car crash in Australia in 1997, Gene Shoemaker – co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet – will have his ashes scattered on the moon when the Lunar Prospector crashes in search of water later this week.
Cosmonauts Perform Final Mir Spacewalk
Mir cosmonauts spent nearly 6 hours outside the battered spacestation installing equipment, and unfolding an antenna. The cosmonauts tested the potential of the antenna, and then disposed of it in space. They’ll return on August 28th, after which the station will probably remain vacant until it crashes back to Earth in early 2000.
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NASA Confirms Columbia’s Fuel Leak
With the Space Shuttle Columbia safely on the ground, NASA engineers have had the opportunity to examine the fuel leak. After an inspection, they’ve confirmed three tiny holes in one of the shuttle’s engine nozzles. Although it didn’t cause any damage, NASA engineers confirmed that it was a little too close for comfort.
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New Extrasolar Planet Discovered Around Iota Horologii
Astronomers have discovered the newest extrasolar planet orbiting a sunlike star in Iota Horologii. Twice the size of Jupiter, but with a similar orbit to the Earth, the planet was discovered by the European Southern Observatory in Chile.
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Space News for July 28, 1999
Safe Landing for Space Shuttle Columbia
After an extremely short mission to deploy the Chandra X-Ray observatory, the Space Shuttle Columbia returned safely to Earth piloted by Eileen Collins – the first woman ever to land a shuttle. Columbia had been in space for five days.
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NASA Could Suffer Drastic Budget Cuts
A House subcommittee has approved a 10% cut of NASA’s annual budget. If this goes through, Administrator Daniel Goldin suggests it will result in mass layoffs, the closure of 2-3 centers, and delay the deployment of the space station.
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NASA Considers Future of Space Travel
Robert Frisbee, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working on future generations of spacecraft that will help cross interstellar space, including such exotic technologies as antimatter, fusion and solar-sails.
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Study Reveals Less Asteroids Than Previously Thought
At a recent press conference, NASA’s David Rabinowitz said that revised estimates of NEOs (Near Earth Objects) are 50% less than previously thought – with only 500 to 1,000 objects. However, he also went on to mention that we’re due for a damaging collision within the next century.
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Space News for July 27, 1999
Prospector Could be Disabled by Eclipse
Final plans for the Lunar Prospector spacecraft may run into a little snag. NASA was planning on smashing the probe into the moon in search of ice; however, there’s a possibility the upcoming eclipse may damage the spacecraft. It will spend 3 days flying into and out of the Earth’s shadow, and this may damage sensitive electronics on the probe – which is already near the end of its life.
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Fuel Leak Endangered Shuttle Launch
Although it successfully made it into orbit, the Space Shuttle Columbia developed a fuel leak shortly after launch. A previously unreleased video shows a streak of ignited fuel developing from one of the shuttle’s main engines. If the leak had progressed any further, it could have cause an emergency landing of the shuttle.
Latest Launch Helps Globalstar Become Operational
The latest Globalstar launch on a Delta 2 put another 4 telecommunications satellites into orbit, and bringing the total number to 32. This is an important milestone for the company as it’s the minimum number of satellites needed for the system to offer global telephone service to its customers. Globalstar still plans to launch another 16 “birds” by the end of the year.
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Deep Space 1 Prepares for Asteroid Pass
Launched nine months ago, Deep Space 1 is being prepared for a flyby of Asteroid 1999 KD – renamed to Asteroid Braille. The spacecraft will fly within 9 miles of the asteroid, taking images, and sending them back to Earth.
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Space News for July 26, 1999
Chandra Successfully Deployed from Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia has completed its primary mission – to deploy and launch the Chandra X-Ray observatory. Once it was separated from the shuttle, Chandra fired its upper stage booster to carry it to a higher 25-hour orbit. Chandra will be 10-100 times more powerful than any other X-Ray telescope.
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Mir and Columbia Crews Communicate in Space
Although they were 7,700 miles apart, Columbia astronauts and Mir cosmonauts spent a few minutes today catching up on old times. The chat was between two Frenchmen: Michel Tognini on Columbia and Jean-Pierre Haignere on Mir, but shuttle commander Eileen Collins broke in to speak a few words to the Mir commander.
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Mir Spacewalkers Search for Leak Unsuccessful
Russian cosmonauts spent six fruitless hours in space attempting to find the source of a mysterious air leak on board Mir. Deputy flight director Viktor Blagov has informed reporters that the leak is above the allowable limit, and that the process is not developing for the better. If the leak isn’t found and fixed, the station will be uninhabitable within 3 months.
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Nearby Asteroid Considered a Stepping Stone to Space Colonization
When it passed within 500,000 miles of the Earth last year, astronomers had the opportunity to study asteroid 1998 KY26. They found it spins rapidly, but more importantly, the asteroid is loaded with ice – probably a million gallons worth. This makes the asteroid a nearby “oasis” for space colonization.
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Space News for July 23, 1999
Columbia Launches Successfully After the Third Attempt
After delays from bad weather, and a falsely detected hydrogen leak, the Space Shuttle Columbia finally launched early Friday morning from Cape Canaveral. If the shuttle hadn’t been able to launch on this attempt, it would have been grounded for at least an additional month. This shuttle mission will last 5 days.
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New Asteroid Danger Rating Developed
New research indicates that asteroids pass very close to the Earth on a regular basis. To help provide a common measurement for assessing the risk of impact, Richard Binzel from MIT has developed the Torino Impact Hazard Scale. A zero on the scale indicates no risk of impact, while a 10 forecasts global devastation.
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Moon Crash May Find Concrete, Not Water
As NASA prepares for the Lunar Prospector’s final mission – to slam into the moon in the hopes that its crash will dig up hidden ice – two researchers at Stanford University, Von R. Eshleman and George A. Parks believe that it may just crash into a concrete-like material. We’ll all find out in a week or so when Prospector crashes.
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Space News for July 22, 1999
Columbia Launch Aborted For the Second Time
Bad weather at Cape Canaveral scrubbed the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia for the second time. Thunderstorms surrounded the launch facility, and the director held the countdown at the five-minute mark throughout their entire window of opportunity, but eventually the launch was called off. They’ll try again on Friday.
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Hawking Working On a Theory for “Everything”
Physicist Stephen Hawking has been working for the last 20 years on the string theory as a unified explanation for all matter and energy for the universe. And he admits that the progress is going a little slower than he would have hoped at a recent conference in Germany.
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New NASA Mission will Capture the Solar Winds
Genesis is a new NASA Mission to recover particles of the solar wind. Expected to cost $216 million, the spacecraft will launch in January 2001, orbit the sun several times collecting solar particles, and finally return to Earth in 2003.
New Photos of Mars Cause Controversy
New images of the Red Planet, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor, show an amazing diversity of features – including frost-covered sand dunes, water ice clouds and heavily eroded craters. Debates center around water: is it on the surface and how could it sustain life?
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