Universe Today

ESA Unveils Comet Landing Mission

As NASA cancels one comet landing mission, the European Space Agency announces another – the Rosetta. Planned for launch in January 2003, the Rosetta will speed up to catch comet Wirtanen and then land on its icy surface. Instruments will then watch what happens to the comet as it approaches the sun.

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Salvagers Attempt to Raise the Liberty Bell

Resting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, under 15,000 feet of water, the Gus Grisson’s Liberty Bell 7 may soon resurface. A salvage team, led by Curt Newport, and financed by the Discovery Channel will spend the next 12 days attempting to raise the space capsule with the help of underwater robots.

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New Clues to Arizona Meteor Crater

A recent study has learned that Meteor Crater in Arizona was probably caused when a 100 foot iron asteroid struck the Earth at 45,000 miles an hour. Researcher Elisabetta Pierazzo and her co-authors used math models and chemical analysis to determine that 85% of the asteroid melted upon impact, with the remaining fragments sprayed around the crater.

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NASA Tests X-34 Engine

NASA tested the Fastrac rocket engine in preparation for the first powered flight of the experimental X-34 spaceplane. The engine was tested at full power for 155 seconds, and generated 60,000 pounds of thrust.

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Images of Mars Captured by Hubble

Thanks to Mars’ closest approach to the Earth in over 8 years, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to take a set of detailed images of the Red Planet. Hubble captured the images when Mars was only 87 million km away, and was able to resolve details on the surface on 12 km across.

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Planets Without Stars Could Still Contain Life

Planetary scientist David Stevenson believes that Earth-sized planets ejected from early solar systems could still contain life, huddled around volcanic vents similar to our own oceans. Unfortunately, these planets would be almost impossible to detect.

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Rock Crystal Could Have Been Oldest Telescope

Professor Giovanni Pettinato of the University of Rome believes that a rock crystal called the Nimrud lens found in 1850 by archaeologist Sir John Layard could have been used for an ancient telescope. The ancient Assyrians astronomers were renowned for their understanding of the skies, and this lens could have contributed to their knowledge.

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China Closes in on Manned Space Flight

China is continuing its ambitious plans to put two men into space by the end of the year 2000. This is just the first part of their overall manned space program, which will launch an independent space station and achieve a lunar landing early in the next millenium.

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Galileo Begins Encounter with Callisto

Galileo is about to begin the tenth encounter of its Europa Mission – a close flyby of Callisto, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. Over the course of the next 4 1/2 days, the spacecraft will fly within 1047 kilometers of the moon’s surface.

Astronomy Now

Cosmonaut Proposes Shares of Mir

Prominent cosmonaut Vitaly Sevastyanov has proposed a new way to save Mir – by selling shares in the space station to other countries or foreign investors. Outside investors could use the station to send astronauts or research missions.

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X-34 Model Test Successful

A 58 foot model of the futuristic X-34 rocket-plane was tested Tuesday above NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California. The flight was used as a demonstration of many of the technologies that will be used in future reusable launch vehicles.

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NASA Cancels Champollion

Champollion ST4 was designed to land on the surface of a comet and study its composition, but now it appears the project won’t be going anywhere. Recent project overruns, and emergency repairs to Hubble have forced NASA to cut the mission from its plans. The probe would have launched in 2003, and landed in 2005.

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Chandra Loaded Onto Columbia

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory was loaded onto the Space Shuttle Columbia on Sunday, in preparation for its July 20th launch. Costing over $2.5 billion, NASA will be watching the launch carefully, as the observatory uses the same upper stage booster that caused at least one Air Force launch failure.

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NASA Prepares Nanorover for Asteroid Mission

Similar to the Mars Pathfinder rover, but only the size of a paperback novel, the MUSES rover is designed for an upcoming Japanese asteroid encounter mission. The rover will hop around in the asteroid’s weak gravity, automatically righting itself if it falls upside down.

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Possible Planet is Probably Just a Star

When it was first discovered last year, astronomers thought they might have their first visual glimpse of a planet orbiting another star system. Further data indicates, however, that the object, called TMR-1C is probably just another, dimmer star.

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Scientists Search for Clues in Tunguska

Something struck central Siberia in 1908 with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs. It leveled 2,200 square kilometers of forest, and the explosion was visible hundreds of kilometers away. There are still many mysteries about what actually happened there almost 100 years ago, and a group of scientists are now attempting to unlock its secrets.

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Gemini Continues to Impress

The Gemini North telescope has lived up to the high expectations of its builders. New images unveiled at a recent ceremony in Hawaii displayed the telescope’s amazing resolution power. Gemini South is currently being constructed in Chile.

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Next Mars Landers May Walk Instead of Roll

Although it was able to provide useful new data, the Mars Pathfinder Rover was restricted by the fact that it had wheels. A prototype “walking” robot has been built at the University of Arizona, which will be able to move across very difficult terrain – they’re being considered for future Mars missions.

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Cassini Gravity Boosted by Venus

Cassini has made its second successful flyby of Venus, and in doing so, picked up the speed it needs to make the next leg of its journey to Saturn. Cassini flew within 600 km of the planet, and is now speeding towards its next encounters: Earth in two months, and then Jupiter in late 2000.

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Mir May be Saved by a Movie

Film director Yuri Kara has come up with a unique plan to help save the doomed Mir spacestation – he plans to shoot a movie on board, called The Mark of Cassandra. Russian actor Vladimir Steklov has already started his cosmonaut training.

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First Female Mission Commander Prepares for Launch

Air Force Col. Eileen Collins will be the first woman to command a space mission when the Space Shuttle Columbia launches on June 20th. Eileen’s mission will be to safely launch the much-delayed Chandra X-Ray observatory.

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FUSE Launch Successful

NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) was successfully launched into orbit on board a Delta II rocket. The rocket launched approximately 11:44 a.m. and the satellite was deployed from the rocket approximately 76 minutes later. FUSE will help unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.

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Space Tourism Could be Around the Corner

If you’ve been hoping to travel in space, you might get your chance sooner than you think. A recent study released by NASA and the private Space Transportation Association reports that one-third of American adults would like to spend two weeks in space, and would pay $5,000. Plans for space hotels are in the works.

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Roton Ground Test Successful

Rotary Rocket Company has announced he first successful ground test of its Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV), and preparations for its first flight test in the near future.

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Cassini Gets a Boost From Venus

Although it’s bound for Saturn, Cassini will pass within 1,600 kilometers of Venus’ surface today to receive a powerful gravity boost of its velocity. After this, it will perform a close pass of Earth, skimming the planet only 800 kilometers. The spacecraft’s nuclear powerplant has activists concerned.

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FUSE to Launch

With the final preparations complete, NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) is ready for its launch on board a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral. FUSE will search for the “fossil records” of the Big Bang and uncover secrets about the origin of the universe.

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Scientists to Study Far Side of the Sun

The European Space Agency announced that it will be using its SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft to monitor the far side of the sun. Although the spacecraft doesn’t view the far side directly, it can detect strong ultraviolet emissions from active regions of the sun, and provide warnings for increased solar activity.

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SETI@home Surpasses All Expectations

Only a month old, the SETI@home software has signed up 660,000 volunteers. Together they’ve contributed over 15,000 years of computing time to the project, making this the largest distributed computing experiment in history.

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Surveyor Landing Spot to Be Selected

A group of planetary geologists are meeting at a conference in Buffalo to determine suitable landing locations for the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, which will test technologies designed to support human life.

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Hubble’s Damage Worsening

The Hubble Space Telescope is on its last legs, with only three functioning gyros (down from six), which it requires to change its direction. Although it can still operate with only three, NASA believes there’s a 50% chance any one of the remaining gyros will fail this year. A shuttle repair mission is planned for later this year.

SpaceDaily

Leonids May Put on a Show

Experts believe that this year’s Leonid meteor shower may be one of the most spectacular. Scheduled to reach their peak around November 17th, the Leonids are caused when the Earth passes through the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle. It’s may be possible that the shower will reach a full-fledged storm, with thousands of meteors visible per hour.

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QuikScat Successfully Deploys

NASA’s QuikScat weather satellite has successful reached its initial elliptical orbit of 800km above the Earth’s surface, and deployed its solar panels. The satellite will fire its thrusters another 25 times to perfect its final orbit, and begin its mission a month from now.

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Cosmonaut Spends Longest Time in Space

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev has spent more time in space than anyone else – currently 681 days over 6 missions. With Mir due to be destroyed later this year, it’s unlikely his record will be broken any time soon.

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Palomar Observatory Searches for Asteroids

A 1.2 meter Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory is being upgraded to help the search for near-Earth asteroids. The upgrade will cost $500,000 and will involve the installation of an electronic camera capable of detecting asteroids.

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FUSE Readied for Launch

Next week will finally bring the launch of NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft on a Boeing Delta II rocket. FUSE will search the universe for hydrogen and deuterium, and hopefully answer a few questions about the Big Bang.

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Oldest Known Galaxy Found

Thanks to the 400-inch Keck Observatory in Hawaii, astronomers have found the farthest known galaxy – over 11 billion light years away, and thought to contain an enormous black hole. It’s expected that even further objects will be discovered by the newly completed, and more powerful, Gemini telescopes.

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QuikScat Weather Satellite Launched

Launched from Vandenberg Air Force base on a Titan II rocket, NASA’s QuikScat weather satellite is on its way to a final altitude of 800 kilometers above the Earth. The purpose of the satellite is to map ocean wind speed and direction.

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Budget Cuts Could Affect Future NASA Missions

NASA’s 2000 budget could be cut by up to $1 billion, potentially putting two missions in jeopardy. Space Technology 4 (ST4) “Champollion” and the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander would be abandoned if the proposed budget cuts are approved by the House of Congress.

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