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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 + Stardust |
A first collection (more pictures), Science@NASA, JPL, U of A and NOAO Press Releases, a Sep. 23 Mission Log and the (German) Status of Sep. 25 and Sep. 24 plus coverage by SC ( earlier), AZ Daily Star, CSM, SN, NYT, SR, New Sci., Astronomy, LAT, BBC (and an interview), AN, ST, FT, NZ, RP, SPIEGEL. Also the German Status and astronomy pages and SC on NASA successes 'in overtime'. Earlier: Astronomy, New Sci., LAT, AN, Wired, SC, NZ.
| Posted in part from the Onsala Space Observatory, R�ö, Sweden This month the CM is 5 years old - look back at the humble beginnings!
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Aerobraking under way, first THEMIS picture taken2001 Mars Odyssey has already dipped into the Martian atmosphere several times: During its closest approach, the spacecraft is 128 km above the surface and during its farthest point it is 27,000 km away from Mars. So far the braking effect is closely following the models. On Oct. 30 Mars Odyssey took its first thermal infrared temperature image of Mars as part of the calibration process for the thermal emission imaging system; the image will be released later. Just after Mars orbit insertion scientists had also turned on the high-energy neutron detector and the neutron spectrometer to check out and validate the instruments during the course of three orbits. Both instruments functioned well, and neutrons were successfully measured during each close pass by the planet. These instruments have since been turned off.2001 Mars Odyssey in perfect orbit!This time everything went right: NASA's latest Mars probe is now in a looping orbit around Mars of 18 hours and 36 minutes. "Hundreds and hundreds of things had to go right, and they did," said Matt Landano, Mars Odyssey project manager at JPL: "We are all excited about our success and I am proud of all the members of our team." The navigation proved to be equally precise. "We were aiming for a point 300 kilometers above Mars and we hit that point within one kilometer," reports Bob Mase, the Mars Odyssey lead navigator at JPL: "Because of the excellent main engine burn, we will not need to do any more maneuvers to adjust the orbit before we begin aerobraking on Friday" (Oct. 26th).Early on Oct. 24 Mars Odyssey had fired its main engine at 2:26 UTC and was captured into orbit around the red planet. At 2:55 UTC, flight controllers at the Deep Space Network station in Goldstone, Calif., and Canberra, Australia, picked up the first radio signal from the spacecraft as it emerged from behind the planet Mars. "Orbit insertion is our single most critical event during the mission, and we are glad it's behind us," said David A. Spencer, Odyssey's mission manager at JPL: "But we cannot rest on our laurels. The aerobraking phase will be a demanding, around-the-clock operation, and it requires the flight team to react as the atmosphere of Mars changes." After all, the big dust storm is still going on (see small items). In the weeks and months ahead, the spacecraft will be literally surfing the waves of the Martian atmosphere, in a process called aerobraking, which will reduce the long elliptical orbit into a shorter, 2-hour circular orbit of approximately 400 km altitude. On Oct. 24, the team turned on the electronics for the gamma ray spectrometer and began taking data with the high-energy neutron detector and the neutron spectrometer instruments. These detectors may help scientists locate water near the surface of Mars, if it exists. On Oct. 28, scientists will take the first picture with the thermal emission imaging system, a wide-angle view of the southern hemisphere. The primary science mission will begin in January 2002. |
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$10 million grant funds "National Virtual Observatory"Astronomers from 17 research institutions have announced that they're starting an ambitious new project to put the universe online: The National Virtual Observatory (NVO), headed by Alex Szalay and Paul Messina, will unite astronomical databases of many earthbound and orbital observatories, taking advantage of the latest computer technology and data storage and analysis techniques. The goal is to maximize the potential for new scientific insights from the data by making them available in an accessible, seamlessly unified form to professional researchers, amateur astronomers and students. The new project is funded by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation. |
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Indian rocket places three research satellites in orbitIn its sixth flight the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C3, on Oct. 22 successfully launched three satellites - the Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) of ISRO itself, BIRD of Germany and PROBA of Belgium - into their intended orbits. This is the second time that PSLV launched three satellites simultaneously. While TES and BIRD (Bispectral and Infrared Remote Detection) satellites were placed in a 568 km sun-synchronous orbit, PROBA (Project for On Board Autonomy) was placed in an elliptical orbit with a perigee (nearest to earth) of 568 km and an apogee (farthest to the Earth) of 638 km. The higher orbit for PROBA was achieved by firing the reaction control thrusters of PSLV-C3's fourth stage.The first satellite to be ejected into the orbit was TES at a height of 572 km after 970 seconds from lift-off. About 40 seconds later, the second satellite, BIRD, was separated from the fourth stage and equipment bay. Subsequently, the fourth stage reaction control thrusters of PSLV was fired to raise the orbit of the equipment bay along with the third satellite, PROBA, to a height of 590 km before the satellite was ejected, 1658 second from lift-off. TES, weighing 1108 kg, is an experimental satellite to demonstrate technologies that could be used in future ISRO satellites - while some analysts think TES is a military satellite. PROBA is a small satellite of Belgium weighing 94 kg. The payloads in the satellite include high-resolution camera with 115 mm diameter aperture and wide angle camera having aperture of 60 mm. BIRD is a small satellite of the German Space agency, DLR, weighing 92 kg. It is intended for testing small satellite technologies and a new generation of infrared sensors for the detection of hot spots like forest fires and volcanoes from space. The BIRD mission is a milestone on the way to establish a small satellite program within the DLR and for the development of a new generation of imaging infrared sensors for Earth remote sensing objectives, which can be used for planetary exploration, too. The BIRD small satellite mission shall demonstrate the scientific and technological value and the technical and programmatic feasibility of the combination of ambitious science and new, not yet space-proofed advanced technologies with a small satellite mission conception under low-budget constraints. |
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Ionized gas found in globular clusterIonized intracluster gas has been discovered by radio astronomers in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae: Pulsars in this cluster with a negative period derivative, which must lie in the distant half of the cluster, have significantly higher measured integrated electron column densities than the pulsars with a positive period derivative. The derived plasma density for the central few parsec of the cluster is about 100 times the free electron density of the ISM in the vicinity of 47 Tucanae, and the ionized gas is probably the dominant component of the intracluster medium. Astronomers had looked for such gas because it is expected to be accumulated from the mass loss of the massive stars in the cluster and it has been a mystery where the cluster gas had gone. Several explanations had been put forward to explain the missing gas and amongst these were the winds from pulsars - it is somewhat ironic that the very same objects that may be responsible for the removal of most of the gas, have finally lead to its detection. |
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Probable galactic building block spotted - using a galaxy cluster's gravitation as a telescopeBy cleverly using the magnifying power of naturally occuring gravitational lenses, astronomers have imaged a faint, small object at a redshift of 5.6 that would otherwise have been too weak to see - it is much smaller than a typical galaxy of today and could thus be one of the predicted building blocks of the first galaxies. The gravitational field of the famous galaxy cluster Abell 2218 is both splitting its image into two and magnifying the brightness of each of the images by more than a factor of 30. |
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ISS UpdateThe ISS cosmonauts have performed the first 2 EVAs without a shuttle present on Oct. 8 and 15 while a new Soyuz (with a French visitor) has arrived and the 2nd ISS visit of a tourist has been cancelled for the time being - and the ISS is crewed one year now. KSC Status of Oct. 4, Energia Releases of Oct. 31, 23 and 4, ESA Releases of Oct. 31, 21 and Oct. 18, a NASA Release on one year of ISS habitation, Astrium Press Release. Science@NASA of Oct. 4 and 1, Culbertson letters on Sep. 11, ISS Status # 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, Mission Status Center. | Coverage of Oct. 31: AFP, AN, SC, BBC, ST, RP, NZ, SPIEGEL. Oct. 30: AFP. Oct. 29: AP, CNN. Oct. 25: ST, FT. Oct. 24: SN. Oct. 23: BBC ( earlier), AN, AFP (earlier), AP, SC, ST, NZ. Oct. 22: Interfax, SC, NZ. Oct. 21: AP [ FT], SR, AFP, FT, SC, SPIEGEL. Oct. 20: AP. Oct. 19: ST, SC. Oct. 17: FT, SC. Oct. 16: RP. Oct. 15: SC, AN, AP, CNN. Oct. 14: ST. Oct. 13: ST. Oct. 12: SC, FT, Interfax. Oct. 11: DPA. Oct. 9: FT. Oct. 8: SR (other story), CNN, SC, NZ. Oct. 7: FT. Oct. 5: SC ( other story), AN, ST. Oct. 4: SC. Oct. 3: ST. Oct. 1: SC. Sep. 30: SN. Sep. 29: ST. Sep. 27: SPIEGEL. Sep. 26: CNN, SC. Sep. 25: SC. Sep. 24: SC. Another hi-res amateur pic of the ISS (see also Update # 227 ISS Update): APOD. |
Vinyl alcohol detected in interstellar spaceAstronomers using the 12 m telescope at Kitt Peak have discovered the complex organic molecule vinyl alcohol in an interstellar cloud of dust and gas - it could reveal tantalizing clues to the mysterious origin of complex organic molecules in space: NRAO Press Release, Wired, Astronomy, BBC, BdW.Hydrogen cyanide in a protostar shows that it has started heating up: ESA Science News. X-rays from a Herbig-Haro Objectdemonstrate that those objects are produced by high velocity shocks - they are found in regions where new stars are forming: Chandra, JPL Press Releases, NZ.Intense iron X-ray emission lines from a galaxy nucleus could mean that energy is being extracted from a rotating black hole: ESA Science News, Science@NASA, NYT, ST, NZ, RP, SPIEGEL. Something's missing in M 87The Gemini North Telescope has revealed that the environment around one of the most massive suspected black holes in the Universe is missing a key feature predicted by astronomical theory - the observations show that the giant elliptical galaxy M87 either lacks a torus around its central black hole, or else this doughnut-shaped ring of material is extremely faint: Gemini & U. Fla. Press Releases, SC.A Chandra picture of the M 87 jet reveals an irregular, knotty structure similar to that detected by radio telescopes and the HST: paper by Marshall & al., Chandra Release [SN], SC, NZ. Brightness measurements of 73 million starshave been gathered as a by-product of dedicated MACHO observations - and now this unique database has been made freely available: LLNL Press Release, MACHO Homepage, NZ.Mistaken identity in M 31An unusual X-ray source found by Chandra in the Andromeda galaxy (see Update # 167 story 2 sidebar 2) ist not the central engine, a new analysis shows - it is actually located 1 arc sec away from the center: Chandra Press Release.How I helped to accelerate the UniverseOne of the discoverers of the low density and even somewhat accelerated expansion of the Universe (see Updates # 68, 115 and 148 story 4) tells how it was: recollections by Filippenko, who was involved in both competing teams.MAP has reached its final orbit and can start mapping the CMBR: NASA News, SN, CNN, NZ. IMP spacecraft retired after 28 yearsThe Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP 8) spacecraft has retired after 28 years on duty being buffeted by the solar wind and zapped by cosmic rays: GSFC Press Release, Astronomy.UARS ends regular science, but still delivers some dataAfter 10 successful years in orbit the atmospheric studies satellite UARS has been forced by budget problems to stop its regular operations - but in a different mode the satellite and some instruments are still delivering data: Status of Oct. 5, Physics Today, other Updates.ERS-2 is operating without any gyros but can still deliver hi-quality radar data, thanks to new clever attitude control software: ESA Release. Great Mars storm still ragingIt is under observation from orbit by the MGS and from Earth orbit by HST: MSSS, STScI, Science@NASA, SC, AP, SN, Astron., ST, BBC, New Sci., WP, FT, NZ, SPIEGEL. New animation shows how Mars evolved, where water hides: UA News [SR, SD], SC, NZ. Detecting water on Mars: SD. Mars without water: SD. A new Shergottite, bringing the Mars meteorite count to 19: Meteorit. Bull.Volcano surprise on IoGalileo did encounter particles from a volcanic plume during the August fly-by (see Update #227 small items) - but they were not from an expected eruption but a new, record-braking event: JPL Release, pictures, PIA 259... 1 & 2, coverage by BBC, SC, Astronomy, NZ, SPIEGEL, RP.Galileo completes yet another Io flyby on Oct. 16 - and the solid-state camera apparently functioned properly this time: Mission Status, FT. Previews by Science@NASA, JPL. Huygens' 8th check-out was o.k.: ESA Science News. Pluto mission study completed - but whether it'll fly is as open as ever: SwRI Release, SC. Work starts on SMART-2Two European companies will perform two independent 'Definition Studies' of ESA's technology mission SMART-2, due to be launched in 2006, a mission designed to test key technologies for two future cornerstone space missions, namely Darwin and LISA: ESA Science News.3 Space Technology 6 experiments chosen to fly for NASA's New Millennium Program on three spacecraft in 2004: JPL Release, AN. NGST industry proposals submittedon Oct. 10 - the winner should be known by year's end: SC. LockMart's proposal: Release. Ultra Lightweight Mirrors are possible for giant space telescopes - a new half-meter mirror developed at the UA weighs only a kilogram: UA News, AN.China wants to launch a lunar probe on a Long March, doesn't disclose any details: AP, BBC. Lively debate about Mercury and its enduring mysteries at a conference: PSRD. Ariane 5 return pushed to JanuaryEurope's heavy-lift rocket, undergoing modifications following the July launch failure, will not return to flight until January - two months later than expected: Space News.Taurus failure a major blow to Orbital Sciences which recently completed a financial restructuring; the loss of NASA's Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (QuikTOMS) satellite, meanwhile, jeopardizes the agency's continuous monitoring of the Earth's ozone layer: Space News, Astronomy. 600-610 active satellites currently in orbit - a new survey has identified between 600 and 610 satellites either in Earth orbit or in deep space trajectories: Teal Press Release. Vasili Mishin dead at 84, led Soviet-era Moon RaceVasili Pavlovich Mishin, one of the pioneers of Russian rocketry and a key leader of the Soviet Union's ill-fated effort to beat the United States to the Moon, died in Moscow on October 10 at 84 - at the height of the space race, Mishin led the TsKBEM design bureau, known today as RKK Energia: NYT, SC.Monument to V.P. Glushko unveiled on Sputnik Day 2001: Semenov speech. Moonwalker Cernan escapes helicopter crash in the Czech Republic without injuries: AP. |
First launch from Kodiak Island carries 4 satellites to orbitAn Athena 1 rocket has launched the "Kodiak Star" collection of four small science satellites from Kodiak Island off Alaska on Sep. 30 - a first for this remote launch site used only for suborbital shots before: Goddard News, SC, ST, SR, JSR; Status. The launch had been delayed several times, e.g. by high solar activity: KSC Release (earlier, still earlier).
Starshine 3 makes brighter flashesthan Starshine 1 - and it can be seen from most places in the world: Homepage, Science@NASA, Varros, Nat'l Geogr. and SC articles and a Glenn Center preview. Get your predictions from Heavens Above! Picosat, another Kodiak Star satellite: Press Release.Australian scramjet experiment flies, failsAn attempt by a group of international researchers to achieve the world's first supersonic combustion flight has not succeeded, but the HyShot research team say they have recovered valuable data from a rocket launch on Oct. 30 which will assist them in future attempts to flight test air-breathing scramjets: Univ. of Queensland Press Release [SD], AN, BBC (earlier), CNN, Space News, SPIEGEL (früher), NZ, a preview and Hyshot News.Pegasus investigation drags along, with no clear explanation yet for NASA's failed Scramjet test in June (see Update # 224 story 2): DFRC Press Release. More planets emerge with solar system-like orbitsAn international team of astronomers has discovered eight new extrasolar planets, bringing to nearly 80 the number of planets found orbiting nearby stars - the latest discoveries uncovered more evidence of an apparent new class of planets with circular orbits similar to the orbits of planets in our solar system: NSF Press Release, AAO info, AAO/Keck info, SN, SC, BBC, AFP, NZ, RP.A planet "vanishes"The radial-velocity variations of HD 166435 are not due to gravitational interaction with an orbiting planet but, instead, originate from line-profile changes stemming from star spots on the surface of the star: paper by Queloz & al., SPIEGEL.End-of-Permian mass extinction not caused by big impact?Two-thirds of a group of ancient land reptiles managed to escape the devastation 251 million years ago, while about 90% of marine life died out - an extraterrestrial impact should have had far-reaching effects on Earth: BBC. The fullerene evidence remains controversial, too: con & pro from Science.Spaceguard UK opens observatory - "We want to raise public awareness of the threat of asteroid and comet impacts": BBC, CCNet. More evidence that the Tunguska object was an asteroid and not a comet is coming from its orbit - with a probability of 83 percent it was coming from the asteroid belt: BBC, SC, NZ, SPIEGEL.A 600-Kilometer Space PotatoAstronomers have detected a surprisingly irregular object in the Kuiper Belt - the oddball is estimated to be 600 kilometers long but just 360 kilometers wide, making it one of the largest elongated bodies ever detected: inscight, NZ.Asteroids named in memory of Sept. 11 terrorism victims - "Compassion", "Solidarity" and "Magnanimity" are now circling the Sun: SC, Astron., BBC, AFP. Tally of 'numbered' asteroids exceeds 30 000After hunting asteroids for two centuries, astronomers achieved a minor milestone in October when the tally of known space rocks whose orbits are well established surpassed 30,000, three times the total less than 3 years ago: SC.HST-FOS pictures of asteroid Ceres resolve the disk for the 1st time: paper by Parker & al., SWRI Press Release, SR. A fast-rotating Amor asteroid that cannot be held together by self-gravitation and it is a body with a non-zero tensile strength: 2001 OE84. Nature on NEARAll articles of a special issue of the journal on the February landing and on global insights about Eros are freely available here! Also a Cornell Press Release [SR], NSU and coverage by SC, Indep., Sci.Am., BBC, AFP, Astronomy, SN, NZ, SPIEGEL.Pictures of comet 2000 WM1 (LINEAR) - that might reach 5th mag. next January, albeit at extreme Southern declinations - from AstroStudio. A bright sungrazer imaged by SOHO: HotShot, SR, SC, SN, CNN. Moon and Earth formed out of identical materialThe composition of the oxygen isotopes of the Moon and the Earth are identical - this is a strong indication that the proto-earth and the planet with which it collided were formed from an identical mixture of components and that they orbited the sun at similar distances: ETHZ Press Release, SC, BBC, SPIEGEL.New speculations about a danger for satellites from the Leonids are reported in a NSU and by SC, Times, FT - while most experts actually consider these claims vastly exaggerated. The latest predictions for the 2001 storm by R. McNaught calls for 8000/hr over Asia: Website, SC. P. Jenniskes has revised his predictions as well: Website. There are also predictions for lunar Leonid impacts, details of the Lyytinen & al. model and a general Call for observations and another preview from Wired. The Orionids came back in mid-October: Science@NASA, RP, DPA and SPIEGEL previews. And the IMO Meteor Shower Calendar 2002. Polar satellite sees symmetric auroraeThe Visible Imaging System aboard NASA's Polar spacecraft observed simultaneous northern and southern aurorae during a space weather storm on October 22: GSFC Release [SR], BBC, SC, Astronomy, SPIEGEL.Aurorae following an X flare on the Sun were seen on Sep. 25 and 26, but the geomagnetic storm was only modest: gallery. How they were predicted: BBC, CNN, SPIEGEL, NZ, RP. More aurorae on Oct. 11 and 12: Kaiser, Rieth, gallery. And on Oct. 21 and 22: Gaehrken, Theusner, gallery. The CME that caused it: GSFC. Aurorae over Finland: BBC. Why so many aurorae now? Science@NASA. Huge prominence imaged by SOHO: SR. Ulysses reaches Sun's N Pole, sees lower solar activity during the pass: ESA Science News (earlier), BBC, Astron. More Cluster results: ESA Science News. New naked-eye sunspots have appeared: Astronomy. Remarkable (old) sunspot pictures with small refractors by Harald Paleske.
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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
