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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 |
Gagarin: Yuri's Night, AFP (other story), Space News, MSNBC, FT, SC, SD, SPIEGEL, multiple SC, FT pages. STS-1: MSFC Release [SD], trivia & pictures, FT, AP, AFP, RP, multiple SC and FT pages.
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Picture perfect launch gets Mars Odyssey on its wayNASA's return to Mars began at 15:02 UTC on April 7 as the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft roared into space onboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. About 53 minutes later, at 15:55 UTC, flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received the first signal from the spacecraft through the Deep Space Network station in Canberra, Australia indicating that all is well aboard the orbiter. Since then the mission team has continued to monitor the status of spacecraft subsystems, all of which are performing normally. Ground controllers established a two-way communication link between Mars Odyssey and Earth, enabling the navigation team to start collecting data to assess the spacecraft's flight path.
The 2001 Mars Odyssey project has probably been scrutinized more closely than any other recent planetary mission - with its success stands or falls NASA's new bold plan to explore the Red Planet over the next 10+ years (see Update # 208). The orbiter carries a suite of scientific instruments designed to tell us what makes up the Martian surface, and provide vital information about potential radiation hazards for future human explorers. The two main instruments will study the chemical and mineralogical makeup of Mars. The thermal-emission imaging system will map the planet with high-resolution thermal images and give scientists an increased level of detail to help them understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the landforms. And the gamma ray spectrometer will allow scientists to peer into the shallow subsurface of Mars, the upper few centimeters of the crust, to measure many elements, including the amount of hydrogen that exists. The first two instantaneous launch windows are on April 7 at 15:02 and 15:32 UTC. |
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Liquid CO2 the mechanism behind the "Mars gullies"?Liquid carbon dioxide breakouts rather than water probably created the martian gullies discovered last summer in high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter camera (see Update # 194), a new model is suggesting. There are several reasons why CO2 is a better candidate than water in gully formation. One reason is that most gullies are found in the southern highlands, the oldest and coldest part of the planet, a place where liquid water is least likely to be stable. Another reason is that the southern hemisphere has more extreme temperature variations throughout the year than does the northern hemisphere, a result of the fact that Mars is closer to the sun during southern summer and farther away during southern winter - and the gullies are generally on pole-facing sopes where they receive very little or no sunlight for most of the year. The most compelling fact, however, is that gullies always start about 100 meters below the top of the cliff: At that depth, the pressure of the rock overhead is just enough for liquid CO2 to be stable, if the temperature is low enough. |
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New ESA science director vows to fight for budget hikeFor years the science program of the European Space Agency has been suffering from dwindling buying power, as at the last Ministerial Meeting the hoped-for compensation for inflation had not been granted. Now, on May 1st, David Southwood is taking over as the new ESA director for science, and, as he explained to leading German space scientists on April 9th at the German Space Agency's headquarters in Bonn, he will do everything possible to reverse that trend. Assuming the return of inflation compensation at the next Ministerial Conference this fall, a moderately healthy longterm science program would still be possible, with all selected missions (see Update # 207 story 2) launched in the 2008 to 2013 timeframe.This will take too long for many scientists, Southwood complains, and also one of his favorite missions, the asteroseismology observatory Eddington, would probably not fly in this period (only if one of the other missions has to be aborted because of technical difficulties). Also, the program has gaps, going for years with no missions in certain disciplines - and it has no flexibility to respond to new ideas. Should inflation compensation not return, even this program would suffer greatly, with most existing missions running only for a minimum time (and no extensions, even if the spacecraft is healthy) and new projects being delayed for several years.
But if Southwood and the European space science community succeed in not
only getting the same buying power every year but a 5 percent increase
per year, the ESA science program would be in a much better state. Already by
2011 some 40% more science could have been accomplished, and there
would be more flexibility, with added opportunities for a planetary science
mission in 2005 and an astronomy mission in 2008. Space science "is a
strategic asset" for Europe, Southwood believes, and he wishes to remind
Europe's politicians of their own bold statement made in Lisbon in 2000:
"Europe should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based
economy in the world."
But, says Goldin, "we've had to offset development problems with the Space Infrared Telescope and Gravity Probe-B with other reductions within Space Science. We wanted the funds to mount a more aggressive Mars exploration program. We got the funds, but the offset came from canceling Pluto-Kuiper Express and Solar Probe" - both moves are facing fierce resistance in the respective communities and, in the case of the Pluto mission, also by the public at large. The release of the detailed budget figures marks the beginning and not the end of the 2002 budget debate, of course: Congress will take up the budget later this spring in a series of hearings and will likely not approve the final budget until this fall, around the time the 2002 fiscal year begins on October 1, 2001. |
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Most distant supernova proves accelerated expansion of the UniverseThree years after the simple "standard model" of the Universe was suddenly thrown out of the window and replaced by a more complex version, with not only dark matter dominating the visible matter in the cosmos but a mysterious dark energy dwarfing both (see Update # 68 for the first news and e.g. Updates # 115 lead and 190 story 2 for further developments) a record-breaking supernova has now all but ruled out all possible non-cosmological explanations for the faintness of distant supernovae. This underbrightness of otherwise healthy type Ia supernovae could, until now, be explained in principle by either a weird evolution of this stellar explosion phenomenon over time, or by a no less weird "gray dust" filling up space.The new supernova 1997ff, however, with a redshift of 1.7 (as a time-consuming analysis has finally shown), is substantially brighter than both the evolution and the gray dust models would have predicted. Its apparent brightness, however, sits well with the cosmological interpretation of all the supernova brightnesses at various redshifts. For if the Universe contains a large amount of dark energy (usually called Lambda, though it is anything but clear that it really is Einstein's Cosmological Constant), it's expansion in the first billions of years after the Big Bang will first slow down, when gravity is still stronger, but at about half the current age (of some 13 Gyr) the Lambda force takes over, and the expansion accelerates again. Supernova 1997ff has already been hailed as the most important stellar explosion of all times ... |
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The first measurements of cold water in the Milky WayWith the help of data from the long-defunct ISO satellite the total amount of water in cold regions of our galaxy has been measured for the first time: This is especially interesting because these regions are the birthplace of stars like the Sun and Solar Systems like our own. The new measurements show that water is more abundant than expected - in fact it is the third most abundant molecule in the regions which were studied. These are called 'quiescent' or 'cold' clouds, because they don't form massive stars and hence lack strong internal heat sources. They are at a mean temperature of just 10 degrees above absolute zero. Only ices had been detected so far in cold clouds, but astronomers knew that water vapour should also be there, even if in small amounts.To search for the cold water vapour a different strategy was used than when one observes the ices. If the light from a far-away object goes through some water vapour on its way to Earth, the water vapour will leave a 'chemical fingerprint' on that light - and exactly those absorption features have finally been found in archival ISO observations of two regions near the Galactic Center. Now for the first time the global amount of water available in these places and its relative abundance as compared with other molecules could be determined: Water turns out to be very abundant, and there is as much water (ice and vapour) as in the very active star-forming regions - after molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide, water is the most abundant molecule. 99% of the water is ice, condensed on cold dust grains, and only 1% is in gaseous form. |
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Sun activity surges, major spot group, record flare seenAfter four pretty quiet months, activity on the Sun is way up now: Activity Region 9393 - evident in the optical as the largest sun spot group in 10 or more years - has sent several Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) towards Earth in late March, causing notable aurorae even far from the poles, and just before leaving the solar disk, it said goodbye with probably the largest flare in recorded history (i.e. the last 25 years when X-ray detectors were available on satellites). On April 2nd at 21:51 UTC the flare was first detected and classified as X17, but it has since been upgraded to at least X20, and appears to be the biggest flare yet on record. For sure it was is the strongest flare since 16 August 1989 when the last X20 flare occurred and it was certainly more powerful than the famous 6 March 1989 flare which was related to the disruption of the power grids in Canada. And while AR 9393 is now on the far side of the Sun, AR 9417 and esp. AR 9415 have appeared on the disk and flared, too.AR 9393's big flare was well observed by the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft: This latest event hurled a coronal mass ejection into space at an impressive 72 million km/hr. Fortunately (or unfortunately for aurora fans) Earth was not directly in the line-of-fire so the impact was less severe than from the previous giant flares. AR 9393 was (or still is) the largest sunspot group to occur in 10 years, with 13 times the surface area of Earth at its largest extent. This active region has produced a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections in late March: One of the mass ejections produced a powerful geomagnetic storm that raged for more than 24 hours over the last March weekend, dazzling sky watchers who saw the aurora borealis as far south as Mexico. Flare-related events also generated a storm of high-velocity particles that, in greater numbers and energies, can affect sensitive electronic equipment in space. |
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Big asteroid missed the Earth on Feb. 26th - and was discovered only a week laterA remarkable event happened in near-Earth space two months ago - and has remained unknown so far outside the Near Earth Objects community: 2001 EC, an asteroid of about one kilometer diameter, rushed past the Earth on February 26th in only 1.5 million kilometers distance. This was the only "near miss" of a body that big at such a close distance since 1937 when the even slightly larger Hermes (1937 UB) came twice as near, while the 25 other (known) asteroids coming closer to Earth than 2001 EC and Hermes were all much smaller, a few 100 meters at most. The latter two were the only asteroids on record that could have caused a global disaster for mankind if they had hit, killing perhaps over a billion people by wiping out crops all over the planet with the dust the impact would have thrown into the atmosphere.Interestingly - or shockingly - 2001 EC was missed by all the active search programs for Near Earth Objects prior to its Earth flyby: Astronomers first noted its existence on March 3rd and did not know it had been close to Earth (when it would have reached 11th magnitude, easily accessible to amateur astronomers) until March 6th. While about half of all similar-sized asteroids coming close to Earth have been discovered by now, the case of 2001 EC shows that a further intensification of the programs is in order, so that the catalog of bodies capable of causing a global disaster can be completed within a decade. Objects this size hit the Earth every few 100 000 years and none have done so during human (recorded) history, but another impact could happen at any time ... |
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This year's Leonids will be the last predicted meteor storm in our lifetimeIf you miss the likely Leonids meteor storm this November in Eastern Asia or Australia, don't expect another chance: The Leonids of 2002 will be swamped by the bright light of the Full Moon - and neither the Leonids nor any other of the famous meteor streams will cause another meteor storm in the next 50 years or so! That was one key results presented at the annual meeting of the German Meteor Society (AKM) at a remote lake in Brandenburg state last month, based on extensive computer simulations by H. Lüthen for various comets and their dust trails. In 2022 there may be an impressive outburst by dust particles shed by comet P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 during its 1995 perihelion (when at least two fragments split off the main nucleus and the comet's brightness increased dramatically), but whether the related meteor event will reach storm level is impossible to predict.All the eyes are thus on the upcoming 2001 Leonids outburst (see Update # 211 for recent insights): There is almost universal agreement in the meteor community now that we can hope for a meteor storm with at least 6000 meteors per hour (thus even exceeding the 1999 event) for a single observer under perfect skies and in the perfect spot (R. Arlt). And where would that be? The mystery of the "early" main peak in 2000 may actually be none when one takes into account the contributions of other dust trails to the overall profile of meteor activity - perhaps it came only 10 minutes early (Arlt & Lüthen). In any case every one is now believing in the predicted times for the 2001 outburst: You should be in a location where the radiant of the meteors (i.e the head of the "Lion") is high in the sky and dawn at least 30 minutes away at about 18:20 UTC on Nov.18, which corresponds to the wee hours of Nov. 19 in East Asia and Australia. Climate studies for the optimum viewing strip have shown a good likelyhood for clear skies in several East Asian countries (with the unfortunate exception of Japan) as well as Northern Australia, though there are great differences in how the weather patterns develop (they do so in a more predictable manner over Mongolia, China and Korea than Down Under). A stationary observer can expect suitable observing conditions with a likelyhood of between 60 and 80% in various parts of Australia, 70-80% in Taiwan, 75% in Korea, 80% in Mongolia and up to 85% in Northeast China (H. Lüthen). For logistical reasons the largest of several AKM expeditions will head to Korea this time, with another one returning to the crumbling observatory in Mongolia where we had been in 1998 and still others going to Australia and China. The wide distribution of the observers (other European expeditions, especially from the Netherlands, are also in preparation) will enhance the chances for good data, and there is still a lot to be learned. For example further analyis has shown that the fine structure in the activity profile of the 1999 Leonids (see Updates # 182 story 3 and 186 story 2) is not only real, but that there is also a strong periodic signal (P=7 minutes) in the video data from at least some geographical areas (in SE Europe), which is also evident in radar data from Northern Germany. Wavelet analyis has confirmed the visual impression of the data plots (J. Rendtel), and the search is on for a physical explanation: Perhaps the parent comet's pattern of dust ejection when it produced the 1899 dust trail responsible for the meteor storm has been frozen in the trail for 100 years? If such a periodic structure would return this year, we could actually learn something about the rotation of the nucleus of comet P/Tempel-Tuttle in the 19th century ... |
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ISS UpdateThe next shuttle flight to the ISS remains set for April 19 - and Russia is determined to take Dennis Tito onto a quick ISS visit on the Soyuz launching on April 28, although all negotiations with the other ISS partners have failed. Meanwhile NASA has still not come up with a detailled explanation of the $ 4 billion cost overrun in the ISS program. Status # 9. Releases and coverage of April 11: ESA Release. April 10: BBC, SC. April 7: Wired. April 6: AN, FT (other story), ST. April 5: NASA Release, Hearing Summary, NYT, FT, SC, SN, OS, SPIEGEL. |
April 4:
MSFC
Release,
Goldin Statement,
ISS Cost History,
SR,
SD,
AN,
HC,
SC
(
other story),
ST.
April 3:
Science@NASA.
March 31:
FT.
March 30:
FT
(
other story),
HC.
The Tito Issue - coverage of April 11: CNN, SD, BBC, AP, ST, Reuters, Interfax, RP. April 10: AP. April 6: FT. April 4: Interfax [SC], ST, HC. April 2: SC. March 30: SN, FT, CSM, CNN. After the Mir crash - none of the planes saw anything: SC. Analysts examine data: Aero.org. Pacific nations want rules for s/c dumping: SC. The future of Russia's manned program: Interfax, SC. |
Did Uranus & Neptune cause the "Late Heavy Bombardement"?New computer simulations show that the late-forming outer planets should have thrown vast amounts of residual planetesimals into the inner solar system, causing the sharp spike of big impacts on our Moon 3.9 Gyr ago (see Update # 211 story 2): New Scientist. But the reason for the apparent new wave of impacts from 400 Myr ago to the present (see Update # 181 story 7) remains unexplained.A Trans-Neptune on a 'forbidden' orbitWhat unknown celestial body has sent 2000 CR105 onto a highly elliptical orbit which doesn't even come close to the (present) orbit of Neptune? And is this trans-neptunian object a member of an "Extended Scattered Disk" way beyond the Kuiper Belt? A paper by Gladman & al., additional information and stories by Inscight and SR. One man still believes in Nemesis: SC.Russian Proton M rocket successfully debutsThe long-delayed maiden flight of the Proton M rocket, the more advanced version of the Russian workhorse launcher, finally lifted off on April 7: AN, SN.Next try for the GSLV on April 18 - contrary to many reports India will make a 2nd launch attempt of its new rocket already this month and not a year from now: ISRO Release [SN], ST, BBC, Reuters, AFP. Stardust's vision is getting clearer againThe 3rd heating sequence proved successful within a few days - the camera regained its improved performance, from just the CCD and mirror motor heaters being turned on: Status Report.Deep Space One's engine keeps firing, having now run for more than 10,000 hours - 50 times beyond its originally required lifetime: JPL Release, AN. Rosetta gets tested - engineers spent 8 days recently subjecting the electrical qualification model of ESA's Rosetta spacecraft to a series of electromagnetic compatibility tests: ESA Science News. Overabundant X-ray pulsars in the SMCpoint to a recent burst of star formation in the Small Magellanic Cloud: GSFC Press Release [SR, SN], more info, Astronomy, SC.Heavy elements formed in neutron star collisions? A supercomputer simulation supports a violent model of cosmochemistry: RAS Press Release [SN], Astronomy, ABC, RP, SPIEGEL. More evidence for a GRB - star forming region link is emerging from radio and X-ray observations: CalTech, MSFC, Chandra Press Releases, NYT, Astronomy, SC. And a review by Piran.
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Young pulsars behind the mysterious EGRET sources?Radio astronomers have found about 30 young, energetic pulsars, which may be the counterparts of otherwise unidentified Galactic gamma-ray sources - two of the newly discovered pulsars have positions which coincide within the positional uncertainties to hitherto unidentified gamma-ray sources detected by the EGRET instrument on CGRO (see Update # 183 story 1 sidebar): Manchester Press Release, SC.Interior of neutron stars as clear as a diamond? If quark-gluon plasma does exist inside neutron stars, it might become an insulator, like diamond, and thence transparent to light: Nature Science Update. "Extreme galaxies" shine mostly in hi-energy radiation: Iowa State University Press Release, NYT. Hitchhiking molecules could have survived fiery comet collisionsSimulating a high-velocity comet collision with Earth, a team of scientists has shown that organic molecules hitchhiking aboard a comet could have survived such an impact and seeded life on this planet: Berkeley Release, Science@NASA, SC, CNN, BBC. And what about microbes travelling in meteorites? SC.Why are there hardly any amino acids in the Tagish Lake meteorite? NYT, CBC. Otherwise it's full of organic stuff and interstellar material: RAS Press Release. How quickly did the young Earth cool and what does that mean for the first steps of evolution? Nature Science Update. Next HST servicing mission stays set for this NovemberNASA has finally made up its mind and will use the oldest orbiter Columbia first for another visit to the HST this fall: FT. Otherwise Columbia isn't of much use these days: SC. We want more space telescopes, says STScI chief: SC.A new hi-res picture of Messier 51 has been created from HST and groundbased data: STScI, SC, CNN, BBC, SPIEGEL.
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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
