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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 |
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Green light for Japanese students' Leonids satellite!According to a Japanese newspaper report, the bold proposal by Japanese students to launch a small satellite dedicated to observations of the expected Leonid meteor storm in 2002 has been approved! "Three small satellites, each designed and developed by Japanese university students, will be launched into space over a one-year period beginning in autumn," reports The Daily Yomiuri: "The satellites are part of a project set up by Tohoku University in Miyagi Prefecture, Tokyo University and Tokyo Institute of Technology to nurture younger researchers through practical experiments - in this case by observing the Leonid meteor shower.In light of the launch failures that have marred Japan's space program in the past, the satellites will be placed in orbit aboard rockets launched by foreign countries. The universities are raising technical and financial support for the launches from relevant companies in order to help enhance interests among Japan's young researchers. One of the student research teams, led by Tohoku University and the Institute of Space and Astronomical Science and monitored by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry plans to launch a satellite to monitor the next major Leonid meteor shower, which will occur over North America in November 2002. The team has come up with a 50-centimeter-long cubic satellite that weighs about 50 kilograms and is equipped with several types of digital cameras that can capture a variety of light rays. The satellite will be 'piggy-backed' into space on a U.S. or Russian rocket before August 2002. The project created by the university students has attracted attention internationally, and the research team is considering the participation of 11 organizations in eight countries such as the United States and Britain in the project by receiving data." According to an earlier website of the project, "UV photometry and spectrographs are prime payloads of the mission," looking specifically for "organics and volatile materials with low sublimation temperature." |
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The "nightglow" of Venus gets even more intriguingFrom the ultraviolet to the near infrared, light emission has been seen from the "dark" side of Venus, with scientific instruments on spacecraft, with big professional telescopes on the ground and sometimes even visually with small telescopes (though the reality of the latter phenomenon, the so-called Ashen Light, is controversial). Now yet another kind of emission has been found: With the HIRES spectrometer at the Keck telescope, visible light emitted by oxygen atoms in the night-side airglow ("nightglow") of Venus has been detected in 1999. Soviet spacecraft could have seen this emission in 1975 but did not: It seems to vary by a factor of at least 25!This 557.7-nanometer atomic oxygen green line is one of the most prominent features in the terrestrial nightglow, first detected by A. J. Angstrom in 1868, then quantified by Lord Rayleigh in 1930. Since the Venera probes had found this emission to be absent in the Venus nightglow, the apparent difference between the terrestrial and Venusian visible nightglows had been attributed to the different atmospheric compositions: oxygen and nitrogen for the earth, carbon dioxide and nitrogen for Venus. Measurements to record the nightglow of Venus were carried out with the Keck telescope just before sunrise on November 20, 1999: Analysis of the resultant spectrum at the position of the oxygen green line showed strong emission from the terrestrial atmosphere and a comparable signal from Venus, with an intensity some 25 times greater than the upper limits set by the Venera results. Further measurements will be needed to determine if the Venus atmosphere really exhibits such large variations in green line intensity. Until the present result, the claim could be made that the nightglow green line is only associated with planets with molecular oxygen in their atmospheres (which was thought crucial to excite the atomic oxygen into the right quantum state for the emission of the green line). Now there is evidence that this is not the case: Therefore the green line is not an effective diagnostic for atmospheric molecular oxygen, but only indicates the presence of oxygen atoms. Observations of this line in the atmospheric spectra of extrasolar planets, that may one day be measured, can thus not be interpreted easily. (Slanger & al., Science of Jan. 19, p. 463-5) |
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NEAR approached Eros to within 2.7 kilometers!The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft made history once again on Jan. 28 when it brushed over the "toe" end of Eros, less than 2.7 km from its surface, at 10:41 UTC (ground receive time). The daring pass, the closest any spacecraft has come to an asteroid, marked the conclusion of a 4-day series of low-altitude flyovers that is returning extraordinarily detailed images of the asteroid's surface. The low pass sequence ended that same afternoon at 18:22 UTC, when a 3.8-second burst from the spacecraft's thrusters pulled it away from its breathtaking vantage point, and back toward an orbit 35 km above the asteroid. There it will remain circling Eros until a maneuver on Feb. 12 pulls the spacecraft out of orbit and into position for its descent to the asteroid. Several more engine burns will slow NEAR Shoemaker's descent, allowing it to settle on to the asteroid's surface at 20:01 UTC. The mission has met all its science goals and set a high standard for low-cost planetary exploration. |
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First 'ringed molecule' found around starsRings of carbon are not exclusive to Earth: A Spanish team of astronomers that observed with ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) report the first detection in interstellar space of benzene, the ring molecule par excellence. They think benzene is produced by stars at a specific stage of evolution, and that it is an essential chemical step towards the synthesis of more complex organic molecules whose true nature is still unclear, although their fingerprints are very conspicuous in the Universe. When stars of intermediate mass (up to about three solar masses) become old, and reach the 'red giant' phase, they begin to release huge amounts of gas and dust into their environment; because carbon is produced by the nuclear reactions in the core of the star, many carbonaceous compounds are present in the dust expelled by the red giant star. |
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Did the first proto-cells fall from space?In laboratory experiments cell-like membranes are forming when extremely cold ice particles that make up dense interstellar clouds are irradiated with UV photons under vacuum conditions and then are put in contact with water: This work may show "that the early chemical steps believed to be important for the origin of life do not necessarily require an already formed planet to occur," concludes the NASA Ames Research Center: "Instead, they can readily be taken in the depths of space long before planet formation occurs. This implies that the vastness of space is filled with compounds which, if landing in a hospitable environment, can help jump-start the origin of life."The main ingredients of interstellar ices are familiar, simple chemicals frozen together. Mostly water, they also contain some ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and the simplest alcohol, methanol. The NASA Ames - University of California Santa Cruz team freezes a mixture of these chemicals into a thin solid ice at temperatures close to absolute zero (-263 degrees C) under an extreme vacuum. This ice is then exposed to harsh ultraviolet radiation that mimics the radiation in space produced by neighboring stars. It has been known for a long time that ultraviolet irradiation of icy solids produces chemicals more complex than those originally present in the ice, and there was speculation that some of these chemicals might have played an important role in early Earth chemistry. "We started this work motivated to find the types of compounds that might be in comets, icy planets and moons, providing guidance for future NASA missions," space scientist and team leader Lou Allamandola says: "Sure, we expected that ultraviolet radiation would make a few molecules that might have some biological interest, but nothing major. Instead, we found that this process transforms some of the simple chemicals that are very common in space into larger molecules which behave in far more complex ways. Ways which many people think are critical for the origin of life, the point in our history when chemistry became biology." "We now know that of the hundreds of new compounds we make in these interstellar ice simulation experiments, many have properties relevant to the origin of life," adds biochemist Jason Dworkin: "Upon the addition of liquid water to the organics produced during ice irradiation, some of these new compounds, with no outside help, organize themselves into tiny vesicles with complicated structures. Other new compounds formed are so much more complex than what we started with that they glow when exposed to UV light. Not only that, but these molecules, which can convert energy from the ultraviolet light to the visible range, become part of the self-formed vesicles. Molecules that do these things are thought to be extremely important for the origin of life. Membrane structures are necessary to separate and protect the chemistry involved in the life process from that in the outside environment, and all known biology uses membranes to capture and generate cellular energy." |
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ISS UpdateAtlantis returned to the launch pad on Jan. 26, after no wiring problems were found, with the launch now set for Feb. 7 at 23:11 UTC (and additional changes in the 2001 manifest inevitable). Meanwhile D. Tito's joyride to the ISS is becoming ever more likely, as Russia and the U.S. will open formal discussions about "ISS tourism" in mid-February and a Russian launch contract with Tito has been signed already. Station Status, Mission Page, ISS Status # 5 and 4. Coverage of Jan. 31: AvNow, SPIEGEL. Jan. 30: Interfax, Science@NASA, SPIEGEL. Jan. 27: FT. Jan. 26: AvNow, AFP, CNN, SC. Jan. 25: SN, HC, SC. Jan. 24: SN, AP, SC, Wired, FT. Jan. 23: AvNow, Disc., FT, SN. Jan. 22: SC, SN.NASA seeking new ways to help astronauts escape from a shuttle: FT, AP. The "Space Mirror" at KSC will not be repaired - the money's better spent elsewhere: FT. |
The 'burial' Progress freighter has reached Mir on Jan. 27 and has
docked without any problems. Before that
Mir's main computer had
been reactivated and the old Progress M43 had undocked; it burned up in the
atmosphere on Jan. 29. Soon after docking between Mir and Progress
M1-5, ground controllers in Korolev sent Mir into a slow spin: Spin
stabilization will preserve the propellant onboard and evenly distribute
the exposure of the station's solar panels to the Sun.
Coverage of Jan. 31: New Scientist. Jan. 30: USA Today, BBC. Jan. 29: SN, AFP, SC. Jan. 28: AP. Jan. 27: Interfax, BBC, Reuters, CNN, AP, SN, RP, Knight Ridder. Jan. 26: AFP, SC, AP. Jan. 25: SN, AP. Jan. 24: Launch pictures, MirNews, BBC, SN, AFP, SC. Jan. 23: BBC. Jan. 22: Interfax, AP, SC, SN. Still no news from Shenzhou 2 - the fate of the experiments and the Descent Module remains unknown to anyone outside China's secretive space program: SD. |
VLBI spots galaxies in the Hubble Deep FieldThree galaxies, all very different from each other, have been detected as compact radio sources during VBLI observations of the Hubble Deep Field (North) and its Flanking Fields - this seems to indicate that Active Galactic Nuclei are everywhere: paper by Garrett & al. with a Website and a Press Release, SC.Martian magmas contained significant amounts of waterThe Shergotty meteorite - volcanic rock from Mars that fell to Earth nearly 150 years ago - tells us that when Mars was young, a lot of water may have been spewed out as steam from the molten rock (magma) beneath the planet's surface, which contained far more water than has previously been thought: NSU, MIT Press Release [SD], BBC, SC, Astronomy, SPIEGEL.The primary mission of the Mars Global Surveyor has ended on Jan. 31 - but the mission will continue until 2002: JPL Release [SN], Discovery, SC. Ten new pictures released on the occasion: MSSS. And a new map of Mars: GSFC Release. A technical snag couldn't interrupt MGS' work - one of the orientation-controlling reaction wheels failed, but the orbiter switched to a backup reaction wheel and continues its mapping without interruption: Status, SN. NASA's Mars 2003 rovers face obstacles - time is ticking away to design, build and test needed hardware: SC. Looking for landing sites: SC, again. Mars Express construction under way - once tests of the flight structure are completed sometime in February, the structure (equivalent to the chassis of a car) will spend the next year accumulating parts and undergoing further tests in different locations in Europe: ESA Science News. Work on 2001 Mars Odyssey is "in hyperdrive", with round-the-clock, sixday workweeks in a Cape Canaveral clean room: Denver Post. "Greening" the Red Planet - how to farm Chroococcidiopsis on Mars: SD. Florida's newest senator favors manned Mars mission: FT. The meaning of Martian sediments: Science@NASA. 352 pages of results from XMM(ESA's new X-ray satellite launched one year ago) have just been published in a special issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics in 56 papers that reflect a wide variety of celestial X-ray sources and astrophysical topics: ESA Science News.XMM views a starburst in NGC 253 - a typical paper from that volume: ibid. A Chandra image of a star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm: Chandra Release. |
IMAGE images of Earth's magnetosphereshow a suspected but previously invisible "tail" of electrified gas which streams from Earth towards the Sun - the tail structure is believed to be a return flow of plasma that occurs when the solar wind buffets the magnetosphere and distorts its shape: GSFC Release, Science@NASA [SN], AN, BBC, SC, Discovery, SPIEGEL, RP.The Sun's magnetic field is in the process of switching its polarityobservations by Ulysses from outside the ecliptic show - in the past few months, the direction of the magnetic field observed by Ulysses fluctuated between the old and the new: ESA Science News, Astronomy.Beta Hydri pulses just like the Sun - but with a period of 17 instead of 5 minutes, because the star is older: AAO, NSF Press Releases, visualizations, Reuters, SC. Mission ends for the EUVE satelliteNASA on Jan. 31 was to pull the plug on the venerable Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft, which has spent 8.5 years in orbit, more than twice its planned lifetime. The spacecraft was determined to be expendable last November after scientific reviews concluded that "the science return was low and not as compelling" as other space science missions: AvNow.The INTEGRAL mission could be delayed if problems with its instruments should persist: SN. Cosmology ballon lands, data safe, hardware damagedOn Jan. 31 the latest CMBR ballon experiment "TopHat" (see Update # 215 story 3 sidebar) has finally landed - the data disks are safe, but the payload is probably gone for good now: Reports from the Field. The other ballon Archeops also flew - for 7 1/2 hours - on Feb. 29: Reports.Elachi takes over as JPL chief, was pioneer of space-based imaging radar: AvNow, JPL Release, SC.
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
The U.S. site of this Cosmic Mirror has been visited
since it was issued (the German site has no counter).
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to [email protected]!), Skyweek
