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By Daniel Fischer Every page present in Europe & the U.S.!
| Ahead | Awards 
The latest issue!
| A German companion - only available here! Current mission news: MGS (latest pictures!) + Cassini + Stardust |
set to go on June 30 - one of the eight payloads of the mission is the MOST satellite, a tiny Canadian space telescope: Eurockot Press Release.
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SOHO data flow faces temporary interruptions as key antenna is stuckA problem with the high-gain antenna on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory could drastically reduce the amount of data the spacecraft can return - a problem with the antenna drive motor is preventing it from moving so it can remain pointed at the Earth. The first blackout in the transmission of the scientific data is expected this week and estimated to last for about two and a half to three weeks. The SOHO spacecraft is operating as safely as before the problem occurred: Its low gain antenna, which does not need to be pointed in a specific direction (omni-directional), will be used to control the spacecraft and monitor both spacecraft and instrument health and safety.The anomaly in pointing the high-gain antenna was recently discovered when engineers detected a discrepancy between the commanded and measured antenna position. In normal conditions, the antenna must be able to move along two axes, vertical and horizontal. The horizontal movement was no longer taking place properly. The problem is probably due to a malfunction in the motor or gear assembly that steers the antenna. To transmit data, the SOHO high-gain antenna must rotate to have the Earth constantly in its field of view as the spacecraft and the Earth progress in their respective orbits. If the problem is not solved, the Earth will be left outside the HGA beam on a periodic basis, with similar blackouts occurring every three months. |
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Nozomi completes final Earth flyby, fate still unclear - and MER-B slips to June 28On June 19, Japan's Nozomi Mars mission made its final flyby of the Earth, but project officials must admit that technical problems with the spacecraft have reduced the chances it will be able to enter orbit around Mars. First of all, the success of the gravity assist won't be known for about a week - and then it is still far from certain that Nozomi will have enough liquid propellant to put it in orbit around Mars next year. The spacecraft had been hit by a solar flare last year that damaged electronics as well as a heating system for keeping its thruster propellant from freezing. The chances of fixing Nozomi in time for Mars orbit insertion were given as only 1:2 by a project official ...Meanwhile the trajectory of the first MER has been corrected slightly on June 19, while the launch of the 2nd MER has been moved back several days to June 28th the earliest. At first, the launch was pushed to June 26 because bad weather had delayed the launch preparations and because Spirit was late. But then more time was needed: "Based on routine post-test inspections, the launch team has elected to remove and replace a band of protective cork insulation on the Delta first stage," a NASA announcement says. "The location is below the forward attach points of the strap-on solid rocket boosters. Inspections of a second band located higher on the first stage are being performed. The time necessary to do this work means a rescheduling of the launch to no earlier than Saturday, June 28 at 11:56:16 p.m. EDT" which is June 29 at 3:56 UTC; a 2nd opportunity would be at 4:37 UTC.
NASA's first Mars Exploration Rover launchedA NASA robotic geologist named Spirit began its seven-month journey to Mars at 17:58:47 UTC on June 10 when its Delta II launch vehicle thundered aloft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, after bad weather had prevented launches on June 9 and 8. The spacecraft, first of a twin pair in the Mars Exploration Rover project, separated successfully from the Delta's third stage about 36 minutes after launch, while over the Indian Ocean. Flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a signal from the spacecraft at 18:48 UTC via the Canberra antenna complex of NASA's Deep Space Network. All systems are operating as expected.Spirit will roam a landing area on Mars that bears evidence of a wet history. The rover will examine rocks and soil for clues to whether the site may have been a hospitable place for life. Spirit's twin, now named Opportunity, which is being prepared for launch as early as 16:38 UTC on June 25, will be targeted to a separate site with different signs of a possible watery past. The first MER's cruise-phase schedule before arriving at Mars next Jan. 4, Universal Time (Jan. 3 in Eastern and Pacific time zones), includes a series of tests and calibrations, plus six opportunities for maneuvers to adjust its trajectory. |
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GRB - supernova link hailed as "Rosetta stone"The direct link between a gamma-ray burst and a 'classical' supernova that was established soon after GRB 030329 went off on March 29 (see Update # 252) is now being hailed as a major breakthrough in understanding GRBs. "We've been waiting for this one for a long, long time," says Jens Hjorth, University of Copenhagen, the lead author on one of three papers in Nature of June 19: "The March 29 burst contains all the missing information. It was created through the core collapse of a massive star." The 'Rosetta stone burst' also provides a lower limit on how energetic gamma-ray bursts truly are and rules out most theories concerning the origin of 'long bursts,' lasting longer than two seconds. Scientists had suspected gamma-ray bursts and supernovae were related, but they have had little observational evidence, until March 29."The March 29 burst changes everything," says co-author Stan Woosley, University of California, Santa Cruz. Just as the Rosetta stone helped us understand a lost, ancient language, this burst will serve as a tool to decode gamma-ray bursts. It's now known for certain that at least some gamma-ray bursts are produced when black holes, or perhaps very unusual neutron stars, are born inside massive stars, according to the team. The following scenario has now emerged: Thousands of years prior to this explosion, a very massive star, running out of fuel, let loose much of its outer envelope, transforming itself into a bluish Wolf-Rayet star. The Wolf-Rayet star, containing about 10 solar masses worth of helium, oxygen and heavier elements, rapidly depleted its fuel, triggering the Type Ic supernova / gamma-ray burst event. The core collapsed, without the star's outer part knowing. A black hole formed inside surrounded by a disk of accreting matter, and, within a few seconds, launched a jet of matter away from the black hole that ultimately made the gamma-ray burst. The jet passed through the outer shell of the star and, in conjunction with vigorous winds of newly forged radioactive nickel-56 blowing off the disk inside, shattered the star. This shattering represents the supernova event. Meanwhile, collisions among pieces of the jet moving at different velocities, all very close to light speed, created the gamma-ray burst. This "collapsar" model, introduced by Woosley in 1993, best explains the observation of GRB 030329, as opposed to the "supranova" and "merging neutron star" models. "This does not mean that the gamma-ray burst mystery is solved," warns Woosley: "We are confident that long bursts involve a core collapse, probably creating a black hole. We have convinced most skeptics. We cannot reach any conclusion yet, however, on what causes short gamma-ray bursts." |
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ISS UpdateA chunk of foam fired at high speed cracked a space shuttle wing panel on June 6 - the test doesn't prove the foam lost during Columbia's launch was the initiating event of the disaster, but it's the best evidence yet a foam strike could have been, in fact, the root cause: a CAIB Release [SR], some test details, more details, an ISS Status Report w/details about a mystery object near the ISS, ESA Press Releases on a successful design review of the ATV and Euro-hardware on the ISS, a NASA Release and O'Keefe remarks on the naming of a mountain for Columbia, Rensselear, NASA and Space Adventures Press Releases and lengthy transcripts of a June 12 CAIB roundtable (parts 1 and 2) and press conference (parts 1, 2 and 3). |
An aurora movie and
the Moon as seen from the ISS, the
ISS in front of the Moon and coverage of
June 25:
New Sci.,
WP 2,
1,
SC 2,
1,
Dsc,
BBC,
AFP,
NZ.
June 24:
SN,
FT 3,
2,
1,
WP,
AP,
ST,
NZ.
June 21:
AFP.
June 20:
SN,
Dsc.
June 19:
SN,
FT 2,
1,
ST.
June 18:
SN 3,
2,
1,
CNN,
ST 2,
1,
SC,
AFP,
Rtr
(other
story).
June 17:
ST 2,
1.
June 16:
SpaceRev,
FT,
SC,
AP.
June 15:
ST.
June 14:
AFP 2,
1,
WP,
AP,
ST 2,
1.
June 13:
WP,
FT,
Dsc,
BBC,
ST,
RP.
June 12:
SN,
FT,
SR,
AFP,
SC 2,
1.
June 11:
ST 3,
2,
1,
AD,
ABC,
FT,
AFP,
UPI,
Rtr,
SN.
June 10:
FT,
SC,
NZ.
June 9:
New Sci.,
June 8:
SN,
AFP,
ST 2,
1,
SC,
NZ.
June 7:
WP,
S.A. Exp. News,
ST,
AFP.
June 6:
SN,
FT,
AP 2,
1,
SC.
What China wants in manned spaceflight: SpaceRev (earlier), First launch now planned for late December: AFP. 20 years ago, Sally Ride's ride: NASA Release, FT. The X Prize and beyond: Wired, SC. |
Middle-Devonian mass extinction blamed on impactGeologists have found high concentrations of shocked quartz, microscopic spherules and microcrysts in the respective layer, sure signs of a meteor impact: Louisiana State Univ. PR [SR], NSU, NZ, RP. Australia's Gosses Bluff crater from space: News.com.au.An impact by 1950 DA would be really bad, computer simulations show: UCSD PR, SC, Ast., AstroBio, Dsc. How great is the risk from NEOs? Nat'l Geogr. Two comets survived brushes with the Sun on May 24: SOHO Pick, GSFC Press Release, NZ. A 5-mag. comet in late 2004? The discovery and first orbit of C/2003 K4 (LINEAR): MPEC. 25 years ago Pluto's moon Charon was discovered, on 22 June 1978: USNO Press Release. Comet X-Ray emissions simulated in laboratoryLLNL physicists have produced X-ray emissions in a laboratory setting by recreating the conditions that exist when solar winds collide with gases surrounding comets - using the electron beam ion trap facility located at Livermore Laboratory, they created charge exchange between heavy ions to produce X-ray emissions, similar to what happens when solar wind and gases collide in a comet: LLNL Press Release.The first direct measurement of the B field of a neutron star has been made with XMM - thanks to the detection of cyclotron resonance absorption lines in a very long exposure spectrum of 1E1207.4-5209: ESA Science News. The most detailed probe yet of the distribution of dark matter in a massive cluster of galaxies has been performed with Chandra - and again the result is that 80 percent of the matter in the universe consists of cold dark matter: Chandra Release. Achernar flattest star ever measuredVLTI data show that the equatorial radius of Alpha Eridani is more than 50% larger than the polar one -this star is shaped very much like a spinning-top toy: ESO Press Release, New Sci., BBC, Ast., NZ.First-ever census of Mira-type stars in a galaxy outside the Local Group - an international team has discovered more than 1000 luminous red variable stars in the nearby elliptical galaxy Centaurus A: paper by Reikuba & al., ESO Press Release, Ast. Astronomers take 3-D images of solar surfaceAstronomers have taken the first three-dimensional photos of the solar photosphere with the Swedish Solar Telescope at La Palma - the images were taken of the limb of the Sun, allowing astronomers to see the relief created by features on the photosphere, and thus provide a 3-D view of the surface: LockMart Press Release, pictures, NSU, S&T, Ast., ST.Largest solar adaptive optics system demonstrates ability to correct images of Sun - the new AO76 system (Adaptive Optics, 76 subapertures) is the largest system designed for solar observations and was demonstrated recently by a team at the National Solar Observatory at Sunspot, NM: NSO Press Release, more. Solar flares are hotter than expected, RHESSI observation suggest: UAH Press Release. 11-year cycle explained? MSFC Release. RHESSI, SOHO & TRACE team up to understand CMEs: GSFC Release. Solar 'tsunamis': SwRI PR. Sunspot movie: Gaehrken. Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey under wayThe Hubble Space Telescope has joined forces with the Chandra X-ray Observatory to survey a relatively broad swath of sky encompassing tens of thousands of galaxies stretching far back in time - "GOODS" will study galaxy formation and evolution over a wide range of distances and ages: STScI and Chandra PRs, SC.Giant & dwarf ellipticals are the same - using images from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have concluded that two of the most common types of galaxies in the universe are in reality different versions of the same thing: U. Fla. PR. VLTI resolves details in other galaxy - structures in the dusty torus of the prototype AGN, the famous galaxy NGC 1068, have been detected: ESO Press Release. Mt. Lemmon observatory survives big AZ blazeThe Mt. Stromlo disaster didn't repeat: Tucson Citizen, AZ Daily Star, Ast. |
Ultra-Compact Dwarf galaxies are realThey look just like stars in ground-based images, but the HST has now shown that these galaxies are for real, though just a bit larger than globular clusters: New Sci., Ast., BBC (other story), AFP, NZ, RP, BdW.A hefty black hole in an otherwise spindly galaxy has astronomers wondering if there is any limit to the range of configurations for galaxies and the gravity wells they sometimes harbor: SC. How to hunt for gamma-ray blazars with a new technique: U. Wisc. PR. Jets and central black holes regulate how massive galaxies in the distant universe grew: Ast. Low-mass stars in binary stars appear to behave like high-mass, evolved starsMost of the secondary stars in a number of cataclysmic variable stars do not appear to be normal main sequence stars - to various degrees, each star seems to have low to no carbon and other odd mixtures of elements: Univ. of CA - Riverside PR.A new way to determine if a young star is surrounded by a planet-forming disk like our early Sun has been opened with Chandra - X-rays can tell us whether a disk is very near to its parent star and dumping matter onto it, or whether such activity has ceased to be important: Chandra Release. Why did V838 Monocerotis cool down so dramatically? The temperature of this exotic star fell from 6000 to 2000 Kelvin after its famous 2002 outburst: SC. 50 million stellar radial velocities to be measuredResearchers from eleven countries have launched an ambitious project to reconstruct our Galaxy's history by gathering key components of motion and chemical compositions for its apparently brightest 50 million stars - RAVE (RAdial Velocity Experiment) is an all-sky stellar spectroscopy survey: AIP and AAO News Releases, Ast.A new distance determination to the Galactic Center using the orbit of star that comes very close to Sgr A* has yielded 8.0±0.4 kpc w/o any systematic errors: a paper by Eisenhauer & al. How Sgr A* was found: a paper by Goss & al. A 2nd black hole near the galactic center? New Sci. Hubble's future to be decided by an expert panel: Panel page, SC. Hubble's Greatest Hits: ZEIT. NAL/NASDA flight demonstrator undergoes drop testsStarting from 6 June, CNES was to conduct several stratospheric balloon flights from the Kiruna launch base in Sweden for drop tests from an altitude of 30 km on a flight prototype of an RLV developed by NAL, the japanese aerospace laboratory, and NASDA, the Japanese space agency: CNES Release [SD].The 300th Proton has launched with a U.S. satellite - the Proton K and its Breeze M upper stage blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a marathon voyage that lasted nearly 9 hours: SN, ST, SC. And another SeaLauch success: Press Release, Status, ST, SC. And another Ariane 5 flies: Arianespace PR, SN, ST, NZ. 30 more Ariane 5s ordered: Arianespace PR, ST, NZ. Officials call for increased European role in spaceKey officials with several major European organizations have said that Europe needs to devote more resources for a variety of space-related projects - the announcement came at the end of a two-day conference that concluded a four-month public consultation period on a proposed European space policy: ESA Press Release, AFP, ST.
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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
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