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By Daniel Fischer Every page present in Europe & the U.S.!
| Ahead | Awards 
The latest issue!
| A German companion! (SuW version) Current mission news: MGS (latest pictures!) + Cassini + Galileo + NEAR |
even on July 17 it was still hovering around 7th magnitude and won't become much brighter than 6th. Find out more at the Kometenprojekt, Kronk's page, Astrostudio, CometLINEAR.com and Space.com. Also an (overly optimistic) story from BBC and details from Sky & Tel. pictures from Japan, The Hindu, webcasts, a preview.
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Five science satellites launched from Russia, KazakhstanOn July 15 and 16 three big and two small science spacecraft were launched from Plesetsk in Russia and Baikonur in Kazakhstan - while CHAMP and two smaller satellites left right on time, the launch of the two Cluster satellites was delayed by 24 hours after the July 15 countdown had been aborted a few seconds before liftoff. The reason, a bad connection between the ground pad and the launcher, had become clear only hours later. The only "result" on July 15 was thus the naming of the four satellites which will be known as Rumba, Salsa, Samba and Tango. |
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On July 16 Salsa and Samba finally made it into orbit,
with the Soyuz rocket and its Fregat upper stage performing just as
planned. The engines of the satellites have already begun to lift
them into their final 19,000 x 119,000 km orbits and to change the
orbital inclination to polar: All 4 apogee raising maneuvers from
July 17 to 20 worked perfectly, leaving the Clusters in 246 x
119,523 km orbits. On the night of the 20th the perigees are to be
raised as well, and the inclination will be adjusted to 90 degrees. The on-time launch of Germany's CHAMP satellite - which was accompanied by the Italian MITA and the German RUBIN payloads (the latter staying attached to the Cosmos' upper stage) - has been a full success as well. Now CHAMP's mission is to last 5 years, while the orbit slowly decays from the initial 460 to about 300 km. This is a good thing, however: The spatial resolution of the gravity and magnetic measurements thus increases all the time.
Double launch ahead for European space scienceIn a rare constellation, a small German geophysics explorer and the first two Cluster space physics satellites are set to launch within 40 minutes from Russia and Kasakhstan, respectively - at 12:00 and 12:40 UTC on July 15. Here is what the CHAMP and Cluster missions are all about (and see also the last two Mirrors for more advance coverage of both missions).CHAMP: modelling the Earth's gravitational and magnetic fieldThe "CHAllenging Mini satellite Payload" is a small satellite mission initiated in 1994 that will simultaneously measure and drastically improve the gravity and magnetic field modelling of the Earth. A new generation GPS flight receiver will allow the continuous tracking of the low orbiter to monitor any orbit perturbations, and a three-axes accelerometer will record the forces acting on the spacecraft. At the same time a high performance Fluxgate magnetometer will measure the ambient magnetic field in the instrument frame combined with a star camera determining the attitude of the assembly with respect to a stellar frame.The instrumentation used for the recovery of the magnetic and gravity fields constitutes at the same time a powerful assembly of sensors for observing many parameters relevant for the characterisation of the state and dynamics of the Earth's neutral atmosphere and ionosphere. GPS radio-occultation measurements can be used for the derivation of temperature and water vapor profiles. Electric field measurements are performed with a digital ion drift meter. Electron density is determined by GPS radio sounding and the density of the neutral atmosphere can be estimated from measurements of the high resolution accelerometer. Against this background the three primary science objectives of the CHAMP mission are to provide
Cluster II: completing ESA's first "cornerstone"The original Cluster mission - lost with the 1st Ariane 5 in 1996 - and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) together comprised the first 'Cornerstone' of ESA's Horizons 2000 Programme. These two missions were selected at the same time to investigate the relation between the Sun and the Earth's environment. The goals of the Cluster II mission are identical to those of the original mission, and the instrument complement remains the same. The Cluster II mission is an in-situ investigation of the Earth's magnetosphere using four identical spacecraft simultaneously. It will permit the accurate determination of three-dimensional and time-varying phenomena and will make it possible to distinguish between spatial and temporal variations.Cluster II will determine the physical processes involved in the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere by visiting key regions like the polar cusps and the magnetotail. The four Cluster spacecraft will map in three dimensions the plasma structures contained in these regions. The simultaneous four-point measurements will also allow differential plasma quantities to be derived for the first time. Cluster II's main goal is to study the small-scale plasma structures in space and time in the key plasma regions, the solar wind and bow shock, magnetopause, polar cusp, magnetotail and auroral zone. The Cluster II spacecraft were assembled by hand from thousands of individual parts: Each one is shaped like a giant disk, 1.3 m high and 2.9 m across. Most design elements remain essentially unchanged for the replica Cluster II mission, except for those elements directly affected by the change of launch vehicle to two Soyuz rockets. Once in orbit, the four spacecraft will spend two years passing in and out of our planet's magnetic field, making simultaneous measurements and sometimes flying in a lopsided pyramid or tetrahedron formation. When they are only a few hundred kilometers apart, they will be able to study small-scale features in the surrounding space. At other times, they may be separated by up to 20,000 km, in order to obtain a broader view. The satellites will follow highly elongated, polar orbits which take them between 19,000 and 119,000 km from the planet. Sometimes, they will be inside the Earth's magnetic shield and sometimes they will be outside, fully exposed to the supersonic solar wind. |
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Zvezda adjusts its orbitThe Zvezda service module continues its chase to catch up with the International Space Station as flight controllers have carried out the first two major rendezvous burns using its two reboost engines: After the burns early on July 14, Zvezda is now in a 361 by 269 km orbit. These were the first of several large rendezvous burns scheduled over the course of the next 10 days to refine Zvezdas orbital altitude in relation to that of the ISS in preparation for docking, now scheduled for 0:53 UTC on July 26. System tests and rehearsals are underway.The Zvezda service module is in excellent shape, with all systems in good shape and operating as expected, though telemetry continues to show that one of the two docking targets was not deployed. This target, however, belongs to the Toru system that would only be used during an emergency manual docking. The Russian specialists believe the target actually is deployed and that sensors are not reading correctly. Meanwhile new worries are growing about future snags in the ISS construction schedule after 2000 as Russia is as short in money as ever... |
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"MightySat" launched with exotic imagerThe U.S. Air Force's $21.5 million MightySat 2.1 research and development satellite was successfully delivered into orbit on July 19 by a $13 million Minotaur rocket - initial data from the satellite indicates it is in good health, the two power-generating solar arrays are deployed and the orbit achieved is nominal. MightySat 2.1 is embarking on a year-long demonstration of its 10 onboard advanced technology experiments: The prime objective is to test for the first time in space a new camera system called the Fourier Transform Hyperspectral Imager. The system might be flown on future military reconnaissance satellites because it should be able to distinguish the type of terrain or composition of objects being observed by studying the spatial signature. Other technologies on the satellite include testing an advanced, high-speed computer processor against space radiation, new solar array hardware and composite material used to form the satellite's structure. |
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"Faster than light" experiment doesn't violate physicsRecent reports have hinted that not even the speed of light is sacred, yet these experiments do not violate any cherished physical laws, not even the principles of relativity: Nature Science Update and background from the author, coverage by Discovery, Space.com, BBC, SpaceRef, AP, RP, What's New.Hubble spots "stellar demolition zone"The Hubble telescope has snapped a view of a a massive star, nearing the end of its life, that is tearing apart the shell of surrounding material it blew off 250,000 years ago with its strong stellar wind: STScI Press Release, coverage by Space.com, Discovery, CNN, BBC.An outlandish plan to upgrade Hubble into an 8-meter telescope has no chance but is a nice gedankenexperiment: "HST10X" Homepage, Spaceflight Now. Chandras observations of the supernova remnant Cas A reveal how supernovae spray the essential elements of life into interstellar space: CfA Press Rel., SpaceScience. The MAXIM proposal - an X-ray satellite constellation with micro arcsec resolution: Space.com. Futuristic camera qualified for scienceAfter two more observing runs at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, S-Cam II, an optical camera based on an array of superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ's) developed by ESA, is now qualified for real astronomical work - the camera with a 6 by 6 array of individual, electrically-connected STJ detectors working at 300 milliKelvin can measure the arrival time and energy of each arriving photon: AstroNews.2nd data release from 2MASS sky survey - 1.9 million pictures with 500 000 galaxies and 162 million stars are now available: Homepage, U Mass and JPL Press Releases, NASA Science News, Discovery, Reuters, Space.com coverage and some sample pictures. Jodrell Bank faces uncertain future - the famous British radio telescope might be sacrificed for the U.K.'s entry into ESO, but those funding it deny the rumors: CCNet (item 4), BBC, Spaceflight Now. NEAR now in 35 km circular orbitOrbit Correction Maneuver #8 at 3:00 UTC on July 14 has circularized the orbit which will stay this way until July 24: Flash and Weekly Report, SpaceViews, SpaceRef, CNN. Some Eros pictures from less than 50 km altitude show boulder details, more regolith and groove details. Also some shadow effects, overlapping craters.The largest telescope devoted 100% to NEO hunting will be the 1.8 meter Spacewatch-2 instrument now being built on Kitt Peak: Space.com. Extremely old salt in the Zag meteoriteThe discovery this week of extremely old salt crystals in a meteorite may mean liquid water, and even life, could have existed in the earliest days of the solar system, just a few million years after its first solids had formed: Science Press Release (Spacefl. Now, Science Daily versions), coverage by BBC, Discovery, Space.com, SpaceViews, SpaceRef.Many details about the Tagish Lake Fireball & Meteorite (see Update # 192 story 2) are now available on a Special Page. |
Ariane 5 launch delayed by upper stage anomalyArianespace has postponed the launch of Flight 130 until an upper stage anomaly detected during endurance testing on Ariane 5 components in Europe is resolved - the anomaly occured during a long duration ground test of the attitude control system for the future "Versatile" version of Ariane 5's EPS upper stage: Press Release, SpaceViews.SeaLaunch's next attempt has been set for July 28, and the swimming launch platform has already departed from the home port: News Release, AP, SpaceViews. Summary of the investigation into the failed last launch: News Release. A contamination problem with NASA's spacesuitscaused some worries but should be corrected in time to avoid any delays to upcoming shuttle missions, NASA says: Fla. Today ( earlier and an editorial), Space.com ( earlier), Spaceflight Now, AP, SpaceViews, Houston Chron.Train hauling shuttle booster segments derailed at KSC - the first (and pretty harmless) railroad wreck at the famous gateway to the Universe: Space.com. MirCorp announces missions for 2001 - the board of directors has approved the permanently-manned operation of Mir beginning next year: Press Release, Space.com, AFP, SpaceViews. An interview with MirCorp's chief: New Scientist. Hovering dust on the Moon, elsewhere, explainedA small layer of dust suspended several feet above the Moon's surface that was first photographed by the Lunar Surveyor spacecraft in the 1960s and later observed by Apollo astronauts has been a puzzle to some planetary scientists, but a research team is now on the verge of explaining the odd dust phenomenon, which also may occur on asteroids, the rings of planets and even around spacecraft: U of CO Press Release, SpaceViews.The debate about India's lunar plans continues (see Update # 195 story 3 sidebar) - "if there is any doubt on the scientific objectives, we will not go through with it": Space.com. Meanwhile the first launch of India's GSLV launcher could come as early as this year: Spaceflight Now.
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to [email protected]!), Skyweek
