The Cosmic Mirrorof News events across the Universe |
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer, Skyweek - older "Mirrors" in the Archive - and find out what the future might bring! The latest issue! |
Current mission news: MGS (science!) + Cassini + Galileo + Prospector |
Good start for 1999: MPL up, NEAR o.k.!That's how an exciting space year should begin: The first two events mentioned below have already taken place, and everything has worked to plan. The NEAR spacecraft performed its engine burn at 17:00 UTC on Jan. 3rd, and the catching up with the asteroid Eros has begun - it will be reached in mid-February of 2000.And just spectacular was the on-time launch of the Mars Polar Lander at 20:21 on the same day: Scores of TV news channels carried the pictures live (which is rather rare for an unmanned launch, but it's Mars, after all), and again a camera was broadcasting glorious views from outside the 1st stage. The MPL is now enroute to Mars, with the first trajectory maneuver coming up on Jan. 18. |
NEAR: The Burn; a BBC Story. MPL: launch press release and a new MVACS PR Site Stories from CNN, BBC, ABC, and a launch journal and pictures. |
The Cosmic Mirror looks into the future: 1999
Jan. 3 | Launch of the Mars Polar Lander (MPL), the next NASA mission to Mars, carrying a lander as well as two penetrators called Deep Space Two. | MPL Homepage, DS2 Homepage; see also below! |
Jan. 3 | NEAR fires its engine to catch up with Eros But there won't be a chance to actually get into orbit until February 2000. | NEAR Homepage |
Feb. 6 | Launch of Stardust, the first-ever comet dust sample return mission. The only other scientific instrument onboard is the German dust analyzer CIDA, but the navigation camera will also take sharp pictures of comet Wild 2's nucleus. | Stardust Homepage, CIDA Homepage, more comet links |
Feb. 11 | Pluto becomes the most distant planet again (which has been Neptune for a while). | Pluto links, esp. from SEDS, JPL and again JPL |
Feb. 16 | Annular Eclipse in Australia - with such a thin ring that the chromosphere, prominences and perhaps even the inner corona could become visible for a few seconds. | Some details and maps |
Feb. 23 | Venus passes very close to Jupiter - the minimum separation in the sky will be 0.13 degrees around 19 hrs UTC. | S&T's "This Week's Sky at a Glance" |
Feb. 26 | Launch of the Wide Field Infrared Explorer: The primary purpose of WIRE is a four month infrared survey of the universe, focusing specifically on starburst galaxies and luminous protogalaxies. | Homepage |
Middle of March | The Mars Global Surveyor finally starts its systematic mapping of Mars, after having spent 1 1/2 - pretty fruitful - years in an elliptical orbit. | MGS Homepage, mission Status, pretty pictures |
March 22 | 200th Birthday of F. W. A. Argelander, the Bonn astronomer who compiled the first major stellar catalog and atlas, the Bonner Durchmusterung. | Short biography, Bonner Durchmusterung |
April 8 | Earliest launch date for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the big NASA X-ray satellite formerly known as AXAF. | Chandra X-ray Observatory Center |
April 24 | Opposition of Mars - but the planet's disk won't get larger than 16.2 arc seconds. | MarsWatch |
April 28 | Launch of ABRIXAS, a German X-ray satellite which will observe the X-ray sky in the energy band 0.5-10 keV. | Homepage |
May 11-12 | ESA Ministerial Meeting in Brussels, which will define "the destiny of ESA and the Science Programme as we know it". | ESA's Science Boss' comments |
late May | Launch of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), a NASA mission to explore the Universe using the technique of high-resolution spectroscopy in the far-ultraviolet spectral region. | Homepage |
June 24 | Cassini's 2nd Venus Flyby on the way to Saturn (on Aug. 18 follows an Earth flyby). | Homepage |
July 17 | Launch of the ISS Service Module (but there are already rumors of a new slip to September...) | ISS Homepage |
July 29 | Deep Space One encounters asteroid 1992 KD, its first destination - two comets could follow in 2000. | Homepage |
August 4-8 | Fourth Meeting of European Planetary and Cometary Observers (MEPCO'99) in Varna, Bulgaria - just before the Total Solar Eclipse which is best seen from there. | MEPCO Homepage |
Aug. 11 | Total Eclipse of the Sun, visible from many parts of Europe and the Middle East. | Some links |
Sept. 24 & Oct. 11 | Orbit Insertion for the Mars Climate Orbiter and Nozomi. The MCO will in the beginning act as a relay, then start its own Martian observations, Nozomi studies the upper atmosphere of Mars. |
MCO Homepage
Nozomi Homepage |
Oct. 27 | HETE-2 Launch on a Pegasus - the first High Energy Transient Explorer was lost in 1996 when the Pegasus didn't release it. | Homepage |
Nov. 15 | Transit of Mercury, the first since 1993; best visible in the Pacific region. | An article about the event |
Nov. 17/18 | Another try for the Leonid meteors - bold experts predict a (minor) storm this year, but fewer fireballs than in 1998. | Leonid links, with 1998 results |
Dec. 3 | The Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 land on Mars close to the South Pole. | Links see under Jan. 3rd or below! |
New Plan for NEAR: Fire engine on Jan. 3 for an Eros orbit in Feb. 2000After performing well during the 4100 km flyby of asteroid Eros on Dec. 23, the next task is preparing for getting into an orbit after all. On Dec. 27, 1998, both NASA and The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) agreed that the NEAR spacecraft will attempt a rendezvous maneuver during a window of opportunity opening Dec. 31, 1998, and closing on Jan. 10, 1999. On Dec. 30 it was decided to do the firing on Jan. 3rd, 1999: The upcoming burn will last 24 minutes and will increase the spacecraft's speed by 939 meters per second, putting it at close to the same speed as Eros.For the next year NEAR will travel behind Eros in a slightly closer orbit to the sun. By mid-February 2000, NEAR will catch up to Eros. The spacecraft will then enter orbit around Eros and begin its planned yearlong study of the asteroid. It is expected that the complete mission at the asteroid can still be executed - just 13 months later than planned. All indications are that the spacecraft and instruments are operating properly, esp. the engine, the behavior of which is now understood. And the instruments have performed well during the Eros flyby at 18:43 UTC on Dec. 23. Mission operations team members had been able to quickly upload new commands to the spacecraft, making it possible to obtain valuable information. Science data, including over 1100 multicolor images, spectral data, and magnetic field measurements, are now coming into the APL's NEAR Science Data Center. Doppler navigation data and real-time telemetry will also help determine the mass of the asteroid. (NASA Release # 228 of Dec. 30, 1998) |
The first pictures of Eros, with 500 m resolution, are shown here ... ... while the successful flyby is discussed here ... ... and the general situation here! News coverage from CNN, SpaceViews, BBC, ASTRONET, TPS, ABC and SpaceCast. NEAR Homepage and News Page. |
MPL: Next Mars Launch coming up Jan. 3rdThe launch of NASA's Mars Polar Lander spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 3, 1999. There is a single 30-second launch window available which opens at 20:21:10 p.m. UTC. No second opportunity is available that day. The next available window is on Monday, Jan. 4 at 20:13:34 p.m. UTC. Liftoff will occur from Pad B at Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Station.The solar-powered spacecraft is designed to touch down on the Martian surface above the northern-most boundary of the south polar cap, which is made of carbon dioxide ice. The lander will study the polar water cycle, frosts, water vapor, condensates and dust in the Martian atmosphere. The Deep Space 2 microprobes are installed on the lander's cruise stage. These two probes, developed by NASA's New Millennium Program, will test technology and instruments to search for water several feet below the Martian surface. |
MPL Homepage, Deep Space 2 Homepage, Mars Microphone Homepage. The launch windows, a mission preview and a bizarre item from the DS2 program. Nozomi is finally on the way to Mars, after the Japanese s/c took nice pictures of the Moon. |
In a Nutshell: The AXAF has been named the Chandra X-ray Observatory: Press Releases from NASA, CfA and the U. of Chicago as well as a preview of the launch. / The next meteor shower is coming: the Quadrantids. / Another leap second is imminent. / Saxony's newest private (and public) observatory has opened. / The Lunar Prospector has started lowering its orbit in preparation of the Extended Mission. / And Berlin engineers are experimenting with a hot water rocket that could assist future launch vehicles that take off horizontally.
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
