[meteorite-list] To Find Meteorites, Listen to the Legends of Australian Aborigines
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/find-meteorites-listen-legends-australian-aborigines-180952941/ To Find Meteorites, Listen to the Legends of Australian Aborigines Oral traditions may have preserved records of impacts over thousands of years and could lead to fresh scientific discoveries By Sarah Zielinski smithsonian.com October 3, 2014 In the heart of Australia, at a remote site south of Alice Springs, the land is pitted with about a dozen strange depressions. Don't drink the rainwater that pools there, or a fire devil will fill you with iron. So goes one Aboriginal tale that has been passed down across generations. The site is the Henbury meteorite field, which was created about 4,700 years ago when a large, iron-filled meteorite slammed into Earth's atmosphere and broke apart, scattering fragments. The Aboriginal warning is perhaps one of the clearest examples of an oral tradition that has preserved the memory of an ancient meteorite strike, argues Duane Hamacher at the University of New South Wales in Australia. According to Hamacher, such tales may be vital clues pointing toward future finds. These traditions could lead to the discovery of meteorites and impact sites previously unknown to Western science,' he writes in a paper that will appear in an upcoming issue of Archaeoastronomy and that was published online August 27. Most myths and tales are just stories passed down through the ages, altered over time like a vast game of Telephone. But some are based on actual geological or astronomical events that occurred long ago. The search for the truth behind those stories has inspired a field of science called geomythology. Most stories have been passed down for only 600 or 700 years, geoscientist Patrick Nunn of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia told Smithsonian earlier this year. There are outliers: The Klamath people tell a legend about a battle between two powerful spirits, which details the eruption of Mount Mazama and the creation of Crater Lake in Oregon about 7,700 years ago. But most stories don't last that long. These kinds of things are very, very rare, Nunn said. In his study, Hamacher identifies several oral traditions from indigenous Australians that he says can be linked to meteorites. The Henbury craters, for instance, were found in 1899 but were not immediately recognized as impact sites. At the time, cattle station owner Walter Parke called them one of the most curious spots I have ever seen in the country in a letter to anthropologist Frank Gillen. 'To look at it I cannot but think it has been done by human agency, but when or why, goodness knows. In 1921, a man named James M. Mitchell visited the Henbury site with an Aboriginal guide who refused to go near the depressions, saying the place was where a fire debil-debil (devil) had come out of the sky and killed everything. Thirteen years later, Mitchell returned. By then, the astronomical connection had been made - a prospector found iron slugs in the craters in 1931 - but Mitchell's new Aboriginal guide again expressed fear of the site. He said that his people wouldn't camp within two miles of the depressions, get closer than half a mile or collect the water that filled some. A fire devil would fill them with iron should they dare. The guide knew this, he said, because his grandfather had seen the fire devil come from the sun. Hamacher found similar tales that other Aboriginal people told to visitors in the first half of the 20th century. The fire devil is probably representative of that long-ago event, Hamacher concludes. The current evidence indicates that Aboriginal people witnessed the event, recorded the incident in oral traditions and those traditions remained intact through the 1930s and possibly later,' he writes. If the tradition is a living memory of the event, it is well over 4,500 years old. Scientists today travel to the ends of the Earth searching for meteorites. Sometimes they even race to the site of an impact looking for fragments. These space rocks are leftovers from the building blocks of the solar system and can yield important clues to the origins of planets - and perhaps even help us understand the spark of life on Earth. Using local myths to uncover ancient impacts could offer scientists a fresh way to track down some of these celestial arrivals. Join science writer Sarah Zielinski and hear more tales of geomythology at the Smithsonian Associates event Oracles, Chimeras, and Bears, Oh My: Is There Science Behind Ancient Stories? at the S. Dillon Ripley Center in Washington, D.C., on October 7. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Four Candidate Landing Sites for ExoMars 2018
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Four_candidate_landing_sites_for_ExoMars_2018 Four Candidate Landing Sites for ExoMars 2018 European Space Agency 1 October 2014 Four possible landing sites are being considered for the ExoMars mission in 2018. Its rover will search for evidence of martian life, past or present. ExoMars is a joint two-mission endeavour between ESA and Russia's Roscosmos space agency. The Trace Gas Orbiter and an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, Schiaparelli, will be launched in January 2016, arriving at Mars nine months later. The Rover and Surface Platform will depart in May 2018, with touchdown on Mars in January 2019. The search for a suitable landing site for the second mission began in December 2013, when the science community was asked to propose candidates. The eight proposals were considered during a workshop held by the Landing Site Selection Working Group in April. By the end of the workshop, there were four clear front-runners. Following additional review by an ESA-appointed panel, the four sites have now been formally recommended for further detailed analysis. The sites - Mawrth Vallis, Oxia Planum, Hypanis Vallis and Aram Dorsum - are all located relatively close to the equator. The present-day surface of Mars is a hostile place for living organisms, but primitive life may have gained a foothold when the climate was warmer and wetter, between 3.5 billion and 4 billion years ago, says Jorge Vago, ESA's ExoMars project scientist. Therefore, our landing site should be in an area with ancient rocks where liquid water was once abundant. Our initial assessment clearly identified four landing sites that are best suited to the mission's scientific goals. The area around Mawrth Vallis and nearby Oxia Planum contains one of the largest exposures of rocks on Mars that are older than 3.8 billion years and clay-rich, indicating that water once played a role here. Mawrth Vallis lies on the boundary between the highlands and lowlands and is one of the oldest outflow channels on Mars. The exposed rocks at both Mawrth Vallis and Oxia Planum have varied compositions, indicating a variety of deposition and wetting environments. In addition, the material of interest has been exposed by erosion only within the last few hundred million years, meaning the rocks are still well preserved against damage from the planet's harsh radiation and oxidation environment. By contrast, Hypanis Vallis lies on an exhumed fluvial fan, thought to be the remnant of an ancient river delta at the end of a major valley network. Distinct layers of fine-grained sedimentary rocks provide access to material deposited about 3.45 billion years ago. Finally, the Aram Dorsum site receives its name from the eponymous channel, curving from northeast to west across the location. The sedimentary rocks around the channel are thought to be alluvial sediments deposited much like those around Earth's River Nile. This region experienced both sustained water activity followed by burial, providing protection from radiation and oxidation for most of Marsâ geological history, also making this a site with strong potential for finding preserved biosignatures. While all four sites are clearly interesting scientifically, they must also allow for the operational and engineering requirements for safe landing and roving on the surface, adds Jorge. Technical constraints are satisfied to different degrees in each of these locations and, although our preliminary evaluation indicates that Oxia Planum has fewer problems compared to the other sites, verification is still on going.' The next stage of analysis will include simulations to predict the probability of landing success based on the entry profile, atmospheric and terrain properties at each of the candidate sites. The aim is to complete the certification of at least one site by the second half of 2016, with a final decision on the landing site for the ExoMars 2018 rover to be taken sometime in 2017. Notes for Editors Download the full report: Recommendation for the narrowing of ExoMars 2018 landing sites http://exploration.esa.int/mars/54707-recommendation-for-the-narrowing-of-exomars-2018-landing-sitesrecommendation-for-the-narrowing-of-exomars-2018-landing-sites/ More ExoMars images, including digital terrain models of the candidate landing sites, are available here. http://exploration.esa.int/mars/44969-images-videos-archive/ For further information, please contact: Markus Bauer ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer Tel: +31 71 565 6799 Mob: +31 61 594 3 954 Email: markus.ba...@esa.int Jorge Vago ESA ExoMars 2018 project scientist Scientific Support Office/Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration Email: jorge.v...@esa.int __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list
[meteorite-list] Ride Through Space Exploration at JPL Open House
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-330 Ride Through Space Exploration at JPL Open House Jet Propulsion Laboratory October 01, 2014 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, opens its doors to the public at its Open House on Saturday, October 11, and Sunday, October 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year's theme is Welcome to Our Universe. Visitors can see a life-size model of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, and check out demonstrations from numerous space missions. Attractions include JPL's mission control, where engineers talk to spacecraft; the machine shop, where highly precise robotic spacecraft parts are built; and the Microdevices Lab, where engineers and scientists use tiny technology to revolutionize space exploration. There will also be an interactive art installation inspired by comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which the Rosetta mission is currently orbiting. Guests are invited to ask questions, invite friends, and post photos and videos on the Facebook Open House event page at: http://www.facebook.com/events/694670457270411/ Visitors using Twitter are encouraged to use the #JPLOpen hashtag. JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California, 91109. Admission to Open House is free. Parking is limited, but free. To get to JPL, take the Berkshire Avenue/Oak Grove Drive exit from the 210 Freeway in La Canada/Flintridge. Detailed directions are online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/maps.php All visitors should wear comfortable shoes -- no buses will be provided from JPL parking lots. JPL will provide vans for mobility-challenged guests. Vehicles and items carried by persons entering NASA/JPL property are subject to inspection by officers at the entry checkpoints. The following items are prohibited: All weapons, explosives, incendiary devices, dangerous instruments, alcohol, illegal drugs, pets, all types of skates including skateboards, Segways and bicycles. The JPL Open House does not allow large bags, backpacks or ice chests. Small purses and diaper bags are acceptable. For more information about the JPL Open House, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.php Media wishing to cover the event should RSVP to: Elizabeth Landau at elizabeth.lan...@jpl.nasa.gov or 1-818-354-6425. Elizabeth Landau NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6425 elizabeth.lan...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-330 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] GRAIL Mission Points to Origin of 'Ocean of Storms' on Earth's Moon
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-333 NASA Mission Points to Origin of 'Ocean of Storms' on Earth's Moon Jet Propulsion Laboratory October 01, 2014 Using data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), mission scientists have solved a lunar mystery almost as old as the moon itself. Early theories suggested the craggy outline of a region of the moon's surface known as Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms, was caused by an asteroid impact. If this theory had been correct, the basin it formed would be the largest asteroid impact basin on the moon. However, mission scientists studying GRAIL data believe they have found evidence the craggy outline of this rectangular region -- roughly 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) across -- is actually the result of the formation of ancient rift valleys. The near side of the moon has been studied for centuries, and yet continues to offer up surprises for scientists with the right tools, said Maria Zuber, principal investigator of NASA's GRAIL mission, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. We interpret the gravity anomalies discovered by GRAIL as part of the lunar magma plumbing system -- the conduits that fed lava to the surface during ancient volcanic eruptions. The surface of the moon's near side is dominated by a unique area called the Procellarum region, characterized by low elevations, unique composition and numerous ancient volcanic plains. The rifts are buried beneath dark volcanic plains on the near side of the moon and have been detected only in the gravity data provided by GRAIL. The lava-flooded rift valleys are unlike anything found anywhere else on the moon and may at one time have resembled rift zones on Earth, Mars and Venus. The findings are published online in the journal Nature. Another theory arising from recent data analysis suggests this region formed as a result of churning deep in the interior of the moon that led to a high concentration of heat-producing radioactive elements in the crust and mantle of this region. Scientists studied the gradients in gravity data from GRAIL, which revealed a rectangular shape in resulting gravitational anomalies. The rectangular pattern of gravity anomalies was completely unexpected, said Jeff Andrews-Hanna, a GRAIL co-investigator at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, and lead author of the paper. Using the gradients in the gravity data to reveal the rectangular pattern of anomalies, we can now clearly and completely see structures that were only hinted at by surface observations. The rectangular pattern, with its angular corners and straight sides, contradicts the theory that Procellarum is an ancient impact basin, since such an impact would create a circular basin. Instead, the new research suggests processes beneath the moon's surface dominated the evolution of this region. Over time, the region would cool and contract, pulling away from its surroundings and creating fractures similar to the cracks that form in mud as it dries out, but on a much larger scale. The study also noted a surprising similarity between the rectangular pattern of structures on the moon, and those surrounding the south polar region of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Both patterns appear to be related to volcanic and tectonic processes operating on their respective worlds. Our gravity data are opening up a new chapter of lunar history, during which the moon was a more dynamic place than suggested by the cratered landscape that is visible to the naked eye, said Andrews-Hanna. More work is needed to understand the cause of this newfound pattern of gravity anomalies, and the implications for the history of the moon. Launched as GRAIL A and GRAIL B in September 2011, the probes, renamed Ebb and Flow, operated in a nearly circular orbit near the poles of the moon at an altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers) until their mission ended in December 2012. The distance between the twin probes changed slightly as they flew over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by visible features, such as mountains and craters, and by masses hidden beneath the lunar surface. The twin spacecraft flew in a nearly circular orbit until the end of the mission on Dec. 17, 2012, when the probes intentionally were sent into the moon's surface. NASA later named the impact site in honor of late astronaut Sally K. Ride, who was America's first woman in space and a member of the GRAIL mission team. GRAIL's prime and extended science missions generated the highest-resolution gravity field map of any celestial body. The map will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved. The GRAIL mission was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission was part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
[meteorite-list] Earth Gets a New Companion for Trip Around Sun (Asteroid 2014 OL339)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26291-earth-gets-a-new-companion-for-trip-around-sun.html Earth gets a new companion for trip around sun by Rebecca Boyle New Scientist 30 September 2014 Add one to the entourage. A newly discovered asteroid called 2014 OL339 is the latest quasi-satellite of Earth - a space rock that orbits the sun but is close enough to Earth to look like a companion. The asteroid has been hanging out near Earth for about 775 years and it will move on about 165 years from now, say Carlos and Raul de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid in Spain, who have just described it. Quasi-satellites orbit in resonance with Earth, allowing the planet's gravity to shift the rock's position much like an adult pushing a child on a swing, says Martin Connors, an astronomer at Athabasca University in Canada. The asteroid orbits the sun every 365 days, as Earth does, but Earth's gravity guides it into an eccentric wobble, which causes the rock to appear to circle backward around the planet. Earth's retinue The asteroid, which is between 90 and 200 metres in diameter, is among several different categories of space rock in Earth's retinue besides our one satellite, the moon. Rocks that hang out at a gravitational middle ground known as a Lagrange point, where they follow or lead Earth in its orbit, are called Trojans. Mini-moons, meanwhile, are small asteroids that get sucked into Earth's gravitational pull and orbit the planet, but only for a few months or a year, says Paul Chodas at NASA's Near Earth Object Program. He spotted what appeared to be a mini-moon back in 2002, but it turned out to be the third rocket stage of the Apollo 12 lunar mission. Most planets and even some large asteroids are accompanied by hangers-on. With four quasi-satellites catalogued so far, Earth comes in second only to Jupiter's six, though the gas giant probably has many more that we can't see. The same is probably true of Earth, as small space rocks are difficult to find - astronomers didn't spot the first till 2004. If you go into your kitchen and you see some big cockroaches, you know there are a lot of little ones there, too, Connors says. Journal reference: arxiv.org/abs/1409.5588v1 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] U.S., India to Collaborate on Earth, Mars Missions
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-328 U.S., India to Collaborate on Earth, Mars Missions Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 30, 2014 In a meeting Tuesday in Toronto, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), signed two documents to launch a NASA-ISRO satellite mission to observe Earth and establish a pathway for future joint missions to explore Mars. While attending the International Astronautical Congress, the two space agency leaders met to discuss and sign a charter that establishes a NASA-ISRO Mars Working Group to investigate enhanced cooperation between the two countries in Mars exploration. They also signed an international agreement that defines how the two agencies will work together on the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, targeted to launch in 2020. NASA's contribution to NISAR is being managed and implemented by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The signing of these two documents reflects the strong commitment NASA and ISRO have to advancing science and improving life on Earth, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. This partnership will yield tangible benefits to both our countries and the world. The joint Mars Working Group will seek to identify and implement scientific, programmatic and technological goals that NASA and ISRO have in common regarding Mars exploration. The group will meet once a year to plan cooperative activities, including potential NASA-ISRO cooperation on future missions to Mars. Both agencies have newly arrived spacecraft in Mars orbit. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft arrived at Mars Sept. 21. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars. ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India's first spacecraft launched to Mars, arrived Sept. 23 to study the Martian surface and atmosphere and demonstrate technologies needed for interplanetary missions. One of the working group's objectives will be to explore potential coordinated observations and science analysis between MAVEN and MOM, as well as other current and future Mars missions. NASA and Indian scientists have a long history of collaboration in space science, said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science. These new agreements between NASA and ISRO in Earth science and Mars exploration will significantly strengthen our ties and the science that we will be able to produce as a result. The joint NISAR Earth-observing mission will make global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes. Potential areas of research include ecosystem disturbances, ice sheet collapse and natural hazards. The NISAR mission is optimized to measure subtle changes of Earth's surface associated with motions of the crust and ice surfaces. NISAR will improve our understanding of key impacts of climate change and advance our knowledge of natural hazards. NISAR will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet's surface less than a centimeter across. This allows the mission to observe a wide range of changes, from the flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets to the dynamics of earthquakes and volcanoes. Under the terms of the new agreement, NASA will provide the mission's L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid state recorder, and a payload data subsystem. ISRO will provide the spacecraft bus, an S-band SAR, and the launch vehicle and associated launch services. NASA had been studying concepts for a SAR mission in response to the National Academy of Science's decadal survey of the agency's Earth science program in 2007. The agency developed a partnership with ISRO that led to this joint mission. The partnership with India has been key to enabling many of the mission's science objectives. NASA and ISRO have been cooperating under the terms of a framework agreement signed in 2008. This cooperation includes a variety of activities in space sciences such as two NASA payloads -- the Mini-Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper -- on ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon in 2008. During the operational phase of this mission, the Mini-SAR instrument detected ice deposits near the moon's northern pole. JPL has participated in providing navigation and communication support for ISRO's MOM. JPL provides navigation and Deep Space Network support for MAVEN, as well as Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Program for NASA. For more information on NASA's Mars exploration program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars For more information on the NISAR mission, visit: http://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov Alan Buis
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 22-26, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES September 22-26, 2014 o Labou Vallis (22 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140922a o Terra Cimmeria (23 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140923a o Terra Sirenum (24 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140924a o South Polar Crater (25 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140925a o Candor Chasma (26 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140926a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Dawn Journal - September 27, 2014
http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/2014/09/27/dawn-journal-september-27/ Dawn Journal by Marc Rayman September 27, 2014 Dear Dawnniversaries, On the seventh anniversary of embarking upon its extraordinary extraterrestrial expedition, the Dawn spacecraft is far from the planet where its journey began. While Earth has completed its repetitive loops around the sun seven times, its ambassador to the cosmos has had a much more varied itinerary. On most of its anniversaries, including this one, it reshapes its orbit around the sun, aiming for some of the last uncharted worlds in the inner solar system. (It also zipped past the oft-visited Mars, robbing the red planet of some of its orbital energy to help fling the spacecraft on to the more distant main asteroid belt.) It spent its fourth anniversary exploring the giant protoplanet Vesta, the second most massive object in the asteroid belt, revealing a fascinating, complex, alien place more akin to Earth and the other terrestrial planets than to typical asteroids. This anniversary is the last it will spend sailing on the celestial seas. By its eighth, it will be at its new, permanent home, dwarf planet Ceres. The mysterious world of rock and ice is the first dwarf planet discovered (129 years before Pluto) and the largest body between the sun and Pluto that a spacecraft has not yet visited. Dawn will take up residence there so it can conduct a detailed investigation, recording pictures and other data not only for scientists but for everyone who has ever gazed up at the night sky in wonder, everyone who is curious about the nature of the universe, everyone who feels the burning passion for adventure and the insatiable hunger for knowledge and everyone who longs to know the cosmos. Artist depiction of landmarks on Dawn's voyage. Dawn is the only spacecraft ever to orbit a resident of the asteroid belt. It is also the only ship ever targeted to orbit two deep-space destinations. This unique mission would be quite impossible without its advanced ion propulsion system, giving it capabilities well beyond what conventional chemical propulsion provides. That is one of the keys to how such a voyage can be undertaken. For those who would like to track the probe's progress in the same terms used on previous (and, we boldly predict, subsequent) anniversaries, we present here the seventh annual summary, reusing text from last year with updates where appropriate. Readers who wish to reflect upon Dawn's ambitious journey may find it helpful to compare this material with the logs from its first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth anniversaries. On this anniversary, as we will see below, the moon will participate in the celebration. In its seven years of interplanetary travels, the spacecraft has thrust for a total of 1,737 days, or 68 percent of the time (and about 0.00034 percent of the time since the Big Bang). While for most spacecraft, firing a thruster to change course is a special event, it is Dawn's wont. All this thrusting has cost the craft only 808 pounds (366 kilograms) of its supply of xenon propellant, which was 937 pounds (425 kilograms) on Sep. 27, 2007. Dawn launch, JSC, Sept. 27. 2007 Dawn launched at dawn (7:34 a.m. EDT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Sep. 27, 2007. Its mission is to learn about the dawn of the solar system by studying Vesta and Ceres. Credit: KSC/NASA The thrusting so far in the mission has achieved the equivalent of accelerating the probe by 22,800 mph (10.2 kilometers per second). As previous logs have described (see here for one of the more extensive discussions), because of the principles of motion for orbital flight, whether around the sun or any other gravitating body, Dawn is not actually traveling this much faster than when it launched. But the effective change in speed remains a useful measure of the effect of any spacecraft's propulsive work. Having accomplished about seven-eighths of the thrust time planned for its entire mission, Dawn has already far exceeded the velocity change achieved by any other spacecraft under its own power. (For a comparison with probes that enter orbit around Mars, refer to this earlier log.) Since launch, our readers who have remained on or near Earth have completed seven revolutions around the sun, covering 44.0 AU (4.1 billion miles, or 6.6 billion kilometers). Orbiting farther from the sun, and thus moving at a more leisurely pace, Dawn has traveled 31.4 AU (2.9 billion miles, or 4.7 billion kilometers). As it climbed away from the sun to match its orbit to that of Vesta, it continued to slow down to Vesta's speed. It has been slowing down still more to rendezvous with Ceres. Since Dawn's launch, Vesta has traveled only 28.5 AU (2.6 billion miles, or 4.3 billion kilometers), and the even more sedate Ceres has gone 26.8 AU (2.5 billion miles, or 4.0 billion kilometers). (To develop a feeling for the relative speeds, you
[meteorite-list] Rosetta to Deploy Lander on November 12
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-326 Rosetta to Deploy Lander on November 12 Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 26, 2014 The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission will deploy its lander, Philae, to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12. Rosetta is an international mission spearheaded by the European Space Agency with support and instruments provided by NASA. Philae's landing site, currently known as Site J, is located on the smaller of the comet's two lobes, with a backup site on the larger lobe. The sites were selected just six weeks after Rosetta's Aug. 6 arrival at the comet, following the spacecraft's 10-year journey through the solar system. In that time, the Rosetta mission has been conducting an unprecedented scientific analysis of the comet, a remnant from early in the solar system's 4.6-billion-year history. The latest results from Rosetta will be presented when Philae lands, during dedicated press briefings. The main focus to date has been to survey 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in order to prepare for the first-ever attempt to soft-land on a comet. The descent to the comet is passive and it is only possible to predict that the landing point will be within a landing ellipse (typically a few hundred yards or meters in size). For each of Rosetta's candidate sites, a larger area -- four-tenths of a square mile (one square kilometer) -- was assessed. Site J was chosen unanimously as the primary landing site because the majority of terrain within an area that size has slopes of less than 30 degrees relative to the local vertical and because there are relatively few large boulders. The area also receives sufficient daily illumination to recharge Philae and continue surface science operations beyond the initial 64-hour battery-powered phase. Over the last two weeks, the flight dynamics and operations teams at ESA have been making a detailed analysis of flight trajectories and timings for Rosetta to deliver the lander at the earliest possible opportunity. Two robust landing scenarios have been identified, one for the primary site and one for the backup. Both anticipate separation and landing on Nov. 12. For the primary landing scenario, targeting Site J, Rosetta will release Philae at 08:35 UTC (12:35 a.m. PST; 9:35 a.m. Central European Time) at a distance of 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the center of the comet, landing about seven hours later. The one-way signal travel time between Rosetta and Earth on Nov. 12 will be 28 minutes and 20 seconds, meaning that confirmation of the landing will arrive at Earth ground stations at around 16:00 UTC (8 a.m. PST; 5 p.m. CET). If a decision is made to use the backup site, Site C, separation will occur at 13:04 UTC (5:04 a.m. PST; 2:04 p.m. CET) at a distance of 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) from the center of the comet. Landing will occur about four hours later, with confirmation on Earth at around 17:30 UTC (9:30 a.m. PST; 6:30 p.m. CET). The timings are subject to uncertainties of several minutes. Final confirmation of the primary landing site and its landing scenario will be made on October 14 after a formal Lander Operations Readiness Review, which will include the results of additional high-resolution analysis of the landing sites conducted in the meantime. Should the backup site be chosen at this stage, landing can still occur on Nov. 12. A competition for the public to name the primary landing site will also be announced during the week of Oct. 14. Following the Philae landing, the Rosetta orbiter will continue to study the comet and its environment using 11 science instruments for another year as the spacecraft and comet orbit the sun together. The comet is on an elliptical 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond Jupiter at its farthest point, to between the orbits of Mars and Earth at its closest to the sun. Rosetta will accompany the comet for more than a year as they swing around the sun and back to the outer solar system again. The analyses made by the Rosetta orbiter will be complemented by the measurements performed on the comet by Philae's 10 instruments. Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the sun and its planets formed. By studying the gas, dust and structure of the nucleus and organic materials associated with the comet, the Rosetta mission should become key to unlocking the history and evolution of our solar system, as well as answering questions regarding the origin of Earth's water and perhaps even life. Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; National Center of Space Studies of France (CNES), Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
[meteorite-list] Curiosity Rover Drill Pulls First Taste From Mars Mountain
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-324 NASA Rover Drill Pulls First Taste From Mars Mountain Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 25, 2014 NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has collected its first taste of the layered mountain whose scientific allure drew the mission to choose this part of Mars as a landing site. Late Wednesday, Sept. 24, the rover's hammering drill chewed about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into a basal-layer outcrop on Mount Sharp and collected a powdered-rock sample. Data and images received early Thursday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, confirmed success of this operation. The powder collected by the drilling is temporarily held within the sample-handling mechanism on the rover's arm. This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills, said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL. This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth. After landing on Mars in August 2012 but before beginning the drive toward Mount Sharp, Curiosity spent much of the mission's first year productively studying an area much closer to the landing site, but in the opposite direction. The mission accomplished its science goals in that Yellowknife Bay area. Analysis of drilled rocks there disclosed an ancient lakebed environment that, more than three billion years ago, offered ingredients and a chemical energy gradient favorable for microbes, if any existed there. From Yellowknife Bay to the base of Mount Sharp, Curiosity drove more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) in about 15 months, with pauses at a few science waypoints. The emphasis in mission operations has now changed from drive, drive, drive to systematic layer-by-layer investigation. We're putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain, said Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jennifer Trosper of JPL. Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this. Curiosity arrived Sept. 19 at an outcrop called Pahrump Hills, which is a section of the mountain's basal geological unit, called the Murray formation. Three days later, the rover completed a mini-drill procedure at the selected drilling target, Confidence Hills, to assess the target rock's suitability for drilling. A mini-drill activity last month determined that a rock slab under consideration then was not stable enough for full drilling, but Confidence Hills passed this test. The rock is softer than any of the previous three targets where Curiosity has collected a drilled sample for analysis. Between the mini-drill test and the sample-collection drilling, researchers used tools on Curiosity's mast and robotic arm for close-up inspection of geometrically distinctive features on the nearby surface of the rock. These features on the Murray formation mudstones are the accumulations of resistant materials. They occur both as discrete clusters and as dendrites, where forms are arranged in tree-like branching. By investigating the shapes and chemical ingredients in these features, the team hopes to gain information about the possible composition of fluids at this Martian location long ago. The next step will be to deliver the rock-powder sample into a scoop on the rover's arm. In the open scoop, the powder's texture can be observed for an assessment of whether it is safe for further sieving, portioning and delivery into Curiosity's internal laboratory instruments without clogging hardware. The instruments can perform many types of analysis to identify chemistry and mineralogy of the source rock. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. JPL, a division of Caltech, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-324 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] India Puts First Interaplanetary Probe in Orbit At Mars (MOM)
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mom/140923moi/ India puts first interplanetary probe in orbit at Mars BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW September 23, 2014 India's first interplanetary mission went into orbit around Mars late Tuesday, vaulting India into rarefied company among the countries that have successfully sent a mission to the red planet. Firing its main engine for 24 minutes, the Indian-built spacecraft autonomously guided itself into orbit around Mars as engineers on Earth watched the probe pass out of communications, a planned loss of signal as it moved behind the red planet. Right on time at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT), officials at the mission's control center in Bangalore broke into applause and leapt from their chairs as telemetry from the spacecraft made it to the ground, confirming it was in orbit. India has successfully reached Mars! declared Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who watched the event from an observation gallery at the Bangalore control center. The Mars mission makes India the fourth entity to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mars, following the United States, Russia and the European Space Agency. We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and imagination, Modi said. We have accurately navigated our spacecraft on a route known to very few, and we have done it from a distance so large that it took a command signal from us to reach it more than it takes sunlight to reach us. The Mars Orbiter Mission -- known as MOM -- closed in on Mars after a journey of 414 million miles since it departed Earth in November 2013 after blasting off on India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Mission control received signals from the MOM spacecraft 12 minutes after the probe sent the updates, the time it takes for light waves to travel the gulf of 139 million miles separating Earth and Mars. The probe's main engine was supposed to slow down the MOM spacecraft by 2,457 mph, enough for Martian gravity to pull the satellite into orbit. An update posted on the Indian Space Research Organization's Facebook page said data from the craft indicated it performed the burn exactly as planned. History has been created today, Modi said in remarks to the ISRO control team. We have dared to reach out into the unknown and have achieved the near-impossible. I congratulate all ISRO scientists as well as all my fellow Indians on this historic occasion. The Mars Orbiter Mission was supposed to spiral into an orbit with a high point nearly 50,000 miles from Mars. On the orbit's closest approach to the red planet, the MOM spacecraft would fly at an altitude of just 263 miles. The solar-powered spacecraft -- about the size of a compact car -- joins six other missions operating at Mars. NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are wheeling across the red planet's dusty surface, and the U.S. space agency has three orbiters flying above Mars -- Odyssey, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the MAVEN atmospheric research craft. Europe's Mars Express mission has circled Mars since December 2003. ISRO joins a elite group of only three other agencies worldwide to have successfully reached the red planet, Modi said. India, in fact, is the only country to have succeeded in its very first attempt. We put together the spacecraft in record time, within a mere three years from first studying its feasibility. More than half of the world's attempts to send a craft to Mars have failed, including Russia's most recent Mars mission in 2011 and Japan's Nozomi spacecraft, which missed a chance to enter orbit at Mars in 1999. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory provided communications and navigation support to mission controllers in India. Scientists built five research instruments to fly to Mars on the Indian orbiter, which officials said is primarily a technology demonstration mission. Now that the spacecraft is in orbit at Mars, attention will turn toward scientific observations. The mission carries about 33 pounds, or 15 kilograms, of scientific instrumentation to gather data on the history of the Martian climate and the mineral make-up of its surface. The mission carries a color imaging camera to return medium-resolution pictures of the Martian surface, a thermal infrared spectrometer to measure the chemical composition of rocks and soils, and instruments to assess the Mars atmosphere, including a methane detector. Scientific assessments of methane in the Martian atmosphere have returned mixed results. Methane is a potential indicator of current microbial life on Mars, but some types of geologic activity can also produce trace levels of the gas. Modi said India developed the $72 million Mars Orbiter Mission at about one-tenth the cost of NASA's $671 million MAVEN mission, which completed its journey to the red planet with a flawless orbit insertion burn Sunday night. India's low-budget Mars mission cost less than many Hollywood films, Modi
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: September 10-16, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Back to Driving - sols 3779-3785, September 10, 2014-September 16, 2014: Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The rover is headed to a near-term target, a small crater named 'Ulysses.' On Sol 3780 (Sept. 11, 2014), Opportunity drove a little over 33 feet (10 meters) in rocky terrain, requiring the use of Visual Odometry to safely navigate the rock hazards. On the evening of Sol 3781 (Sept. 12, 2014), an atmospheric argon measurement was collected using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. The next day, the rover drove again, achieving over 66 feet (20 meters) in the difficult terrain. On the evening of Sol 3783 (Sept. 14, 2014), an 'amnesia' event occurred. This results from the rover being unable to mount its Flash (non-volatile) file storage system during the wake up for Deep Sleep. A reformat of the Flash file system was performed 10 sols ago and corrected many of the worn out cells in Flash. No science data was lost as a result of the amnesia event and the rover continued normally. The 98 feet (30-meter) drive on the next sol completed without any issues and the rover performed nominally. The project continues to investigate the Flash-related issues. The rover is otherwise operating in good health. As of Sol 3785 (Sept. 16, 2014), the solar array energy production was 693 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.905 and a solar array dust factor of 0.768. Total odometry is 25.32 miles (40.75 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Workshop on Early Solar System Bombardment III
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/bombardment2015/ Workshop on Early Solar System Bombardment III February 4-6, 2014 Houston, Texas INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Universities Space Research Association Lunar and Planetary Institute National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) CONVENERS Dr. David Kring Lunar and Planetary Institute Dr. Robin Canup Southwest Research Institute SCIENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Simone Marchi Southwest Research Institute Kaveh Pahlevan Nice Observatory Ross Potter Lunar and Planetary Institute/Brown University Timothy Swindle University of Arizona Richard Walker University of Maryland First Announcement - September 2014 Meeting Location and Date The Workshop on Early Solar System Impact Bombardment III will be held February 4-6, 2015, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), located in the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) building http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/areamap.pdf, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston TX 77058. Introduction One of the legacies of the Apollo program is the concept of late heavy bombardment or a lunar cataclysm that may have resurfaced the Moon and thermally metamorphosed its crust. Several recent studies have continued to test that concept and explore the implications any bombardment may have for our understanding of lunar evolution and for the origin and early evolution of life on Earth. That lunar record has also recently been expanded to include studies of asteroids and other solar system bodies. Another legacy of the Apollo era is the giant impact model, in which the Moon forms as a result of an oblique impact between the early Earth and another planet-sized body. Computer simulations have established that such an impact can produce an appropriately massive and iron-poor disk around the Earth. However, uncertainty remains as to how best reconcile the impact theory with key observed properties of the Moon. These include the Moon's close compositional similarity to the Earth's mantle, the lunar depletion in volatile elements, and a potentially water-rich lunar interior. Purpose and Scope Recognizing the community's interest in these topics, the LPI and partners within the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI) have organized a workshop to explore them. The workshop will provide an opportunity to integrate several diverse components of the above topics. Example topics relevant to the lunar cratering record include an assessment of the geologic record of impact cratering throughout the solar system, cosmochemical constraints on any early bombardment, and dynamical models that might explain the flux of debris and potential changes in the flux of debris. Example topics relevant to lunar origin include cosmochemical and geophysical constraints on lunar formation; giant impact simulations; the chemical, thermal, and/or dynamical evolution of the protolunar disk; and the accretion and early evolution of the Moon. The goal is to investigate the range of collisional events from the late stages of terrestrial planet accretion to the end of the basin-forming epoch on the Moon. Although the Moon will be a central component of the workshop, the discussion will include observations elsewhere, such as Mercury, Mars, the asteroid belt, and outer solar system moons. Meeting Format The workshop will be dominated by contributed oral and poster presentations, although a small number of invited presentations are planned to frame the issues to be explored. These will be designed to set the stage for the workshop and identify broad issues. Contributed talks and posters that then follow will add detail and hopefully new information that helps resolve the broad issues. Indication of Interest To subscribe to a mailing list to receive electronic reminders and special announcements relating to the meeting via e-mail, please submit an electronic Indication of Interest form https://www.hou.usra.edu/meeting_portal/iofi/?mtg=bombardment2015 by October 6, 2014. Contacts For further information regarding the scientific content of the meeting: Dr. David Kring Lunar and Planetary Institute E-mail: kr...@lpi.usra.edu For further information regarding meeting details, abstract submission, or registration: Kira Honnoll Meeting and Publication Services USRA Houston Phone: 281-244-2011 E-mail: khonn...@hou.usra.edu Schedule Deadline for submitting indication of interest October 6, 2014 Second announcement, including call for abstracts and registration, posted on this website October 7, 2014 Abstract deadline November 18, 2014 Final announcement with program and abstracts posted on this website December 22, 2014 Workshop on Early Solar System Impact Bombardment III February 4-6, 2015 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list
[meteorite-list] Workshop on Issues in Crater Studies and the Dating of Planetary Surfaces
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/craterstats2015/ Workshop on Issues in Crater Studies and the Dating of Planetary Surfaces May 19-22, 2015 Laurel, Maryland INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Planetary Crater Consortium Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory Universities Space Research Association Lunar and Planetary Institute National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) CONVENERS Stuart Robbins Southwest Research Institute Catherine Plesko Los Alamos National Laboratory First Announcement - September 2014 Meeting Location and Date The Workshop on Issues in Crater Studies and the Dating of Planetary Surfaces will be held May 19-22, 2015, at the Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory http://www.jhuapl.edu/ in Laurel, Maryland. Purpose and Scope Numerous science questions exist that are informed by impact crater populations, but the plethora of new data in the past several decades indicates we need to reexamine what the best practices are in understanding and analyzing craters, crater populations, and how they evolve. The purpose of this conference is to improve our understanding of the crater population and how craters are analyzed, and to better understand the proper statistical tools when using craters as tracers for various geologic, geophysical, and dynamical processes such as deriving surface ages. Meeting Format The workshop will consist of plenary sessions and submitted talks over a period of 3.5 days. There will be morning and afternoon oral sessions organized around topical themes, with a few invited presentations. Ample time will be reserved for questions and discussion. A poster session may be held in the evening. Indication of Interest To subscribe to a mailing list to receive electronic reminders and special announcements relating to the meeting via e-mail, please submit an electronic Indication of Interest form https://www.hou.usra.edu/meeting_portal/iofi/?mtg=craterstats2015 by Thursday, January 9, 2015. Contacts For further information regarding the scientific content of the meeting: Stuart Robbins University of Colorado, Boulder E-mail: stu...@boulder.swri.edu For further information regarding meeting details or announcements: Katy Buckaloo Meeting and Publication Services USRA Houston Phone: 281-486-2106 E-mail: kbucka...@hou.usra.edu Schedule Deadline for submitting indication of interest January 9, 2015 Second announcement, including call for abstracts and registration, posted on this website January 9, 2015 Abstract deadline March 5, 2015 Final announcement with program and abstracts posted on this website April 3, 2015 Workshop on Issues in Crater Studies and the Dating of Planetary SurfacesMay 19-22, 2015 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 15-19, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES September 15-19, 2014 o Melas Chasma (15 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140915a o Gigas Sulci (16 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140916a o South Polar Cap (17 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140917634304a o South Polar Cap (18 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140918a o Polar Textures (19 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140919a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet (MAVEN)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-318 NASA's Newest Mars Mission Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Red Planet September 21, 2014 NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft successfully entered Mars' orbit at 7:24 p.m. PDT (10:24 p.m. EDT) Sunday, Sept. 21, where it now will prepare to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere as never done before. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars. As the first orbiter dedicated to studying Mars' upper atmosphere, MAVEN will greatly improve our understanding of the history of the Martian atmosphere, how the climate has changed over time, and how that has influenced the evolution of the surface and the potential habitability of the planet, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. It also will better inform a future mission to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s. After a 10-month journey, confirmation of successful orbit insertion was received from MAVEN data observed at the Lockheed Martin operations center in Littleton, Colorado, as well as from tracking data monitored at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory navigation facility in Pasadena, California. The telemetry and tracking data were received by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna station in Canberra, Australia. NASA has a long history of scientific discovery at Mars and the safe arrival of MAVEN opens another chapter, said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. Maven will complement NASA's other Martian robotic explorers-and those of our partners around the globe-to answer some fundamental questions about Mars and life beyond Earth. Following orbit insertion, MAVEN will begin a six-week commissioning phase that includes maneuvering into its final science orbit and testing the instruments and science-mapping commands. MAVEN then will begin its one Earth-year primary mission, taking measurements of the composition, structure and escape of gases in Mars' upper atmosphere and its interaction with the sun and solar wind. It's taken 11 years from the original concept for MAVEN to now having a spacecraft in orbit at Mars, said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU/LASP). I'm delighted to be here safely and successfully, and looking forward to starting our science mission. The primary mission includes five deep-dip campaigns, in which MAVEN's periapsis, or lowest orbit altitude, will be lowered from 93 miles (150 kilometers) to about 77 miles (125 kilometers). These measurements will provide information down to where the upper and lower atmospheres meet, giving scientists a full profile of the upper tier. This was a very big day for MAVEN, said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. We're very excited to join the constellation of spacecraft in orbit at Mars and on the surface of the Red Planet. The commissioning phase will keep the operations team busy for the next six weeks, and then we'll begin, at last, the science phase of the mission. Congratulations to the team for a job well done today. MAVEN launched Nov. 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying three instrument packages. The Particles and Fields Package, built by the University of California at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and Goddard, contains six instruments that will characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of the planet. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will identify characteristics present throughout the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, provided by Goddard, will measure the composition and isotopes of atomic particles. The spacecraft's principal investigator is based at CU/LASP. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project and also provided two science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley provided four science instruments for MAVEN. JPL provides navigation and Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Program for NASA. To learn more about the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven and http://mars.nasa.gov/maven/ Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Nancy Neal-Jones / Elizabeth Zubritsky Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 301-286-0039 / 301-614-5438
[meteorite-list] Mars Orbiter Mission Prepares for Mars Arrival
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2014/0916-laxman-mars-orbiter-mission-prepares.html Mars Orbiter Mission prepares for Mars arrival By Srinivas Laxman September 16, 2014 The countdown for the crucial and nerve-wracking Mars orbit insertion of India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on September 24 has kicked off. At ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore, the mood among the scientists is right now a mixture of optimism, excitement, and nervous apprehension. On September 15 at the auditorium of the Mars mission command and control centre at ISTRAC, some of the key players of this mission addressed the media about the sequence of events leading to the orbit insertion. Orbit insertion will take place 48 hours after NASA's Mars Atmosphere And Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) enters the orbit of the Red Planet on September 22. ISRO's scientific secretary, V. Koteswara Rao, explained with a detailed power point presentation that on September 24, the insertion exercise will begin at T-3 hours at 4:17 a.m. when MOM will switch over to the medium gain antenna. At 6:56 a.m., 21 minutes prior to the start of the maneuver there spacecraft will rotate forward to point its engine. Editor's note: all these times are India Standard Time, which is 5.5 hours ahead of UTC and 12.5 hours ahead of California. They are also Spacecraft Event Time, which does not account for the 12.5 minutes it will take for signals to reach Earth. Read this blog entry for a timeline in Earth Received Time for some common time zones. --ESL The nail-biting moment will be at 7:17 a.m. The burn of the liquid apogee motor has to start and reduce the spacecraft's speed relative to Mars from 22.3 to 4.2 kilometers per second. It has to awaken after sleeping for 300 days. The scientists are hoping that it will revive autonomously responding to the commands which were uploaded on September 14 and 15. What is making the scientists nervous is that the burn will begin on the other side of the Red Planet and telemetry will stop at 7:22 a.m. They will receive confirmation that it has woken up only at 7:30 a.m. If the signal is positive it will be a moment for celebration. The engine will stop burning at 7:41 a.m. and communication with the spacecraft will be re-established at 7:47 a.m. This is called Plan A and if it is successful, it will be declared at about 8:15 a.m. The liquid apogee motor will burn for 24 minutes and 14 seconds, consuming 249.5 kilograms of propellant. If everything goes off without a hitch, MOM's orbit around Mars will be an ellipse ranging between 423 and 80,000 kilometers from the surface. [Image] Mars Orbiter Mission's initial orbit The initial, equatorial orbit of Mars orbiter mission will approach to within 423 kilometers of the surface at periapsis and stretch to 80,000 kilometers away at apoapsis. Even at periapsis, it will orbit above Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Mars Express does have an elliptical orbit, but it is near-polar and from 300 to 10,000 kilometers. Since its periapsis is not at the equator, Mars Express and Mars Orbiter Mission will not approach each other in the sky. As with most global missions to the Red Planet there is a degree of uncertainty. What if Plan A does not work and the liquid apogee motor fails to wake up? To assess the state of the liquid apogee motor, it will be test fired for four seconds on September 22. This will be done along with a trajectory correction maneuver already planned for that day. On the same day MOM will enter the Mars sphere of influence too. Koteswara Rao said that if the liquid apogee motor fails, Plan B will be implemented: using only the spacecraft's eight 22-Newton thrusters. He acknowledged that this will definitely not be a satisfactory scenario because it will result in the consumption of all the spacecraft's fuel. What is worse, the orbit will not be a good one for science. Asked if the implementation of Plan B will mean compromising on the science profile of the mission, he diplomatically responded that some science you may lose, some science you may gain. But MOM project director Subbiah Arunan expressed confidence that the motor will not play spoilsport, because during the rigorous tests and simulations it underwent for prolonged periods it operated without a hitch. This is a rare case when two Mars spacecraft will be arriving almost simultaneously - MOM and MAVEN. To ensure complete co-ordination NASA and ISRO scientists have been constantly in touch through teleconferencing. Arunan said that about 250 NASA workers will be at their stations at the Goldstone and Canberra Deep Space Network stations to monitor MOMs Mars orbit insertion on September 24. In addition, Arunan said that four 70-meter dish antennas - two each at Goldstone and Canberra - have been dedicated to MOM's orbit insertion on September 24. He said that the first signal
[meteorite-list] MAVEN Spacecraft Ready for Sept. 21 Orbit Insertion
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-314 NASA Mars Spacecraft Ready for Sept. 21 Orbit Insertion Izumi Hansen and Elizabeth Zubritsky NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center September 17, 2014 NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is nearing its scheduled Sept. 21 insertion into Martian orbit after completing a 10-month interplanetary journey of 442 million miles (711 million kilometers). Flight Controllers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, will be responsible for the health and safety of the spacecraft throughout the process. The spacecraft's mission timeline will place the spacecraft in orbit at approximately 6:50 p.m. PDT (9:50 p.m. EDT). So far, so good with the performance of the spacecraft and payloads on the cruise to Mars, said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The team, the flight system, and all ground assets are ready for Mars orbit insertion. The orbit-insertion maneuver will begin with the brief firing of six small thruster engines to steady the spacecraft. The engines will ignite and burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be pulled into an elliptical orbit with a period of 35 hours. Following orbit insertion, MAVEN will begin a six-week commissioning phase that includes maneuvering the spacecraft into its final orbit and testing its instruments and science-mapping commands. Thereafter, MAVEN will begin its one-Earth-year primary mission to take measurements of the composition, structure and escape of gases in Mars' upper atmosphere and its interaction with the sun and solar wind. The MAVEN science mission focuses on answering questions about where did the water that was present on early Mars go, about where did the carbon dioxide go, said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. These are important questions for understanding the history of Mars, its climate, and its potential to support at least microbial life. MAVEN launched Nov. 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying three instrument packages. It is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars. The mission's combination of detailed measurements at specific points in Mars' atmosphere and global imaging provides a powerful tool for understanding the properties of the Red Planet's upper atmosphere. MAVEN is another NASA robotic scientific explorer that is paving the way for our journey to Mars, said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Together, robotics and humans will pioneer the Red Planet and the solar system to help answer some of humanity's fundamental questions about life beyond Earth. The spacecraft's principal investigator is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at University of Colorado, Boulder. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the project and also provided two science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley provided four science instruments for MAVEN. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, provides navigation and Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. JPL manages the Mars Exploration Program for NASA. To learn more about the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven and http://mars.nasa.gov/maven/ __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MAVEN Update - September 15, 2014
http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/2014/09/15/maven-status-update-sept-15-2014/ MAVEN Status Update: Sept. 15, 2014 September 15 As of September 15th, the MAVEN spacecraft is 216 million kilometers (134 million miles) from Earth and 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Mars. From that distance, Mars as seen by MAVEN is the same size as a baseball as seen from 73 feet. Its velocity is 22.43 kilometers per second (50,174 miles per hour) as it moves around the Sun. David F. Mitchell, MAVEN Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Everything continues to go well with MAVEN as it is readied for arrival at Mars on Sunday, September 21st. All spacecraft systems are operating nominally. We had scheduled a final Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-4) for September 12th. However, the maneuver was cancelled because the flight path did not warrant a correction. MAVEN is right on track. In the next few days the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) sequence will commence on the spacecraft. Most commands will be performed autonomously (without the need for commanding from Earth). However, there are two ground command opportunities still available to alter the spacecraft's flight path, if necessary, in order to raise altitude for its first pass at Mars. These altitude raise decisions will be made by the Project at approximately 24 hours and 6 hours prior to MOI, in close coordination with the Navigation team and the Navigation Advisory Group. Right now we don't expect to need an additional maneuver because of how well the spacecraft is flying. On Sunday evening, MAVEN will slew (turn) to point the main engines in the direction of travel and fire for about 33 minutes in order to slow down the spacecraft enough to capture into Mars orbit. Although we have direct line of sight of MAVEN during the entire burn sequence, the observed data back on Earth will actually be viewed 12 minutes after the events occur because of the distance between Earth and Mars. For more details, check out this MAVEN MOI video, Targeting Mars: As we approach the last few days before arriving at Mars, the following are public affairs events that you may be interested in tuning in for: * Pre-MOI Press Conference at NASA Headquarters: September 17th at 1:00 p.m. EDT. * Live Television Coverage of the MOI Event: September 21st from 9:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. EDT. * Post-MOI Press Conference at Lockheed Martin-Denver: September 21st, approximately 2 hours after MOI. All of these events can be watched through NASA TV on your cable/satellite system or online at www.nasa.gov/ntv. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Martian Meteorite Yields More Evidence of the Possibility of Life On Mars (Nakhla Meteorite)
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=12797 Martian meteorite yields more evidence of the possibility of life on Mars The University of Manchester 15 Sep 2014 A tiny fragment of Martian meteorite 1.3 billion years old is helping to make the case for the possibility of life on Mars, say scientists. The finding of a cell-like structure, which investigators now know once held water, came about as a result of collaboration between scientists in the UK and Greece. Their findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Astrobiology. While investigating the Martian meteorite, known as Nakhla, Dr Elias Chatzitheodoridis of the National Technical University of Athens found an unusual feature embedded deep within the rock. In a bid to understand what it might be, he teamed up with long-time friend and collaborator Professor Ian Lyon at the University of Manchester. Professor Lyon, based in Manchester's School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said: In many ways it resembled a fossilised biological cell from Earth but it was intriguing because it was undoubtedly from Mars. Our research found that it probably wasn't a cell but that it did once hold water - water that had been heated, probably as a result of an asteroid impact. These findings are significant because they add to increasing evidence that beneath the surface, Mars does provide all the conditions for life to have formed and evolved. It also adds to a body of evidence suggesting that large asteroids hit Mars in the past and produce long-lasting hydrothermal fields that could sustain life on Mars, even in later epochs, if life ever emerged there. As part of the research, the feature was imaged in unprecedented detail by Dr Sarah Haigh of The University of Manchester whose work usually involves high resolution imaging for next generation electronic devices ,which are made by stacking together single atomic layers of graphene and other materials with the aim of making faster, lighter and bendable mobile phones and tablets. A similar imaging approach was able to reveal the atomic layers of materials inside the meteorite. Together their combined experimental approach has revealed new insights into the geological origins of this fascinating structure. Professor Lyon said: We have been able to show the setting is there to provide life. It's not too cold, it's not too harsh. Life as we know it, in the form of bacteria, for example, could be there, although we haven't found it yet. It's about piecing together the case for life on Mars - it may have existed and in some form could exist still. Now the team is using these and other state-of-the-art techniques to investigate new secondary materials in this meteorite and search for possible bio signatures which provide scientific evidence of life, past or present. Professor Lyon concluded: Before we return samples from Mars, we must examine them further, but in more delicate ways. We must carefully search for further evidence. Notes for editors The scientists' findings A Conspicuous Clay Ovoid in Nakhla: Evidence for Subsurface Hydrothermal Alteration on Mars with Implications for Astrobiology Elias Chatzitheodoridis, Sarah Haigh, and Ian Lyon are published in Astrobiology, Vol. 14, No. 8 The work was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Media enquiries to: Katie Brewin/Aeron Haworth Media Relations Officer The University of Manchester Tel: 0161 275 8387 Email: aeron.hawo...@manchester.ac.uk __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Meteorite That Doomed Dinosaurs Remade Forests
http://uanews.org/story/meteorite-that-doomed-dinosaurs-remade-forests Meteorite That Doomed Dinosaurs Remade Forests By Daniel Stolte University of Arizona September 16, 2014 [Image[ A post-apocalyptic forest: This post-extinction landscape is lush from warm weather and ample rain along the Front Range, but there are only a few types of trees. Extinct relatives of sycamores, walnut trees and palm trees are the most common. (Image by Donna Braginetz; courtesy of Denver Museum of Nature Science) http://uanews.org/sites/default/files/story-images/After%20Armageddon.jpeg The impact decimated slow-growing evergreens and made way for fast-growing, deciduous plants, according to a study applying biomechanical analyses to fossilized leaves. The meteorite impact that spelled doom for the dinosaurs 66 million years ago decimated the evergreens among the flowering plants to a much greater extent than their deciduous peers, according to a study led by UA researchers. The results are published http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001949 in the journal PLoS Biology. Applying biomechanical formulas to a treasure trove of thousands of fossilized leaves of angiosperms - flowering plants excluding conifers - the team was able to reconstruct the ecology of a diverse plant community thriving during a 2.2 million-year period spanning the cataclysmic impact event, believed to have wiped out more than half of plant species living at the time. The researchers found evidence that after the event, fast-growing, deciduous angiosperms had replaced their slow-growing, evergreen peers to a large extent. Living examples of evergreen angiosperms, such as holly and ivy, tend to prefer shade, don't grow very fast and sport dark-colored leaves. When you look at forests around the world today, you don't see many forests dominated by evergreen flowering plants, said the study's lead author, Benjamin Blonder, who graduated last year from the lab of UA Professor Brian Enquist with a Ph.D. from the UA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is now the science coordinator at the UA SkySchool. Instead, they are dominated by deciduous species, plants that lose their leaves at some point during the year. The study provides much-needed evidence for how the extinction event unfolded in the plant communities at the time, Blonder said. While it was known that the plant species that existed before the impact were different from those that came after, data was sparse on whether the shift in plant assemblages was just a random phenomenon or a direct result of the event. If you think about a mass extinction caused by catastrophic event such as a meteorite impacting Earth, you might imagine all species are equally likely to die, Blonder said. Survival of the fittest doesn't apply - the impact is like a reset button. The alternative hypothesis, however, is that some species had properties that enabled them to survive. Our study provides evidence of a dramatic shift from slow-growing plants to fast-growing species, he said. This tells us that the extinction was not random, and the way in which a plant acquires resources predicts how it can respond to a major disturbance. And potentially this also tells us why we find that modern forests are generally deciduous and not evergreen. Previously, other scientists found evidence of a dramatic drop in temperature caused by dust from the impact. Under the conditions of such an impact winter, many plants would have struggled harvesting enough sunlight to maintain their metabolism and growth. The hypothesis is that the impact winter introduced a very variable climate, Blonder said. That would have favored plants that grew quickly and could take advantage of changing conditions, such as deciduous plants. Blonder, Enquist and their colleagues Dana Royer from Wesleyan University, Kirk Johnson from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Ian Miller from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science studied a total of about 1,000 fossilized plant leaves collected from a location in southern North Dakota, embedded in rock layers known as the Hell Creek Formation, in what at the time was a lowland floodplain crisscrossed by river channels. The collection consists of more than 10,000 identified plant fossils and is housed primarily at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. By analyzing leaves, which convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water into nutrients for the plant, the study followed a new approach that enabled the researchers to predict how plant species used carbon and water, shedding light on the ecological strategies of plant communities long gone, hidden under sediments for many millions of years. We measured the mass of a given leaf in relation to its area, which tells us whether the leaf was a chunky, expensive one to make for the plant, or whether it was a more flimsy, cheap one, Blonder explained. In other words, how much
[meteorite-list] Dawn Operating Normally After Safe Mode Triggered
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-313 Dawn Operating Normally After Safe Mode Triggered Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 16, 2014 The Dawn spacecraft has resumed normal ion thrusting after the thrusting unexpectedly stopped and the spacecraft entered safe mode on September 11. That anomaly occurred shortly before a planned communication with NASA's Deep Space Network that morning. The spacecraft was not performing any special activities at the time. Engineers immediately began working to restore the spacecraft to its normal operational state. The team determined the source of the problems, corrected them, and then resumed normal ion thrusting on Monday night, Sept. 15. This anomaly presented the team with an intricate and elaborate puzzle to solve, said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. After investigating what caused the spacecraft to enter safe mode, the Dawn team determined that it was likely triggered by the same phenomenon that affected Dawn three years ago on approach to the protoplanet Vesta: An electrical component in the ion propulsion system was disabled by a high-energy particle of radiation. We followed the same strategy that we implemented three years ago to recover from a similar radiation strike -- to swap to one of the other ion engines and a different electronic controller so we could resume thrusting quickly, said Dawn Mission Director and Chief Engineer Marc Rayman of JPL. We have a plan in place to revive this disabled component later this year. Complicating the issue, the team discovered that the spacecraft had experienced not just one anomaly, but also a second one that affected the ability to point the main antenna at Earth to communicate. Because the spacecraft could not communicate using its main antenna, the team had to utilize the weaker signals of another antenna, slowing their progress. In addition, Dawn is so far from Earth that radio signals take 53 minutes to make the round trip. Although they have not yet specifically pinpointed the cause of this issue, it could also be explained by a high-energy particle corrupting the software running in the main computer. Ultimately the team reset the computer, which restored the pointing performance to normal. As a result of the change in the thrust plan, Dawn will enter into orbit around dwarf planet Ceres in April 2015, about a month later than previously planned. The plans for exploring Ceres once the spacecraft is in orbit, however, are not affected. Dawn orbited Vesta, the second most massive object in the main asteroid belt, from July 2011 until September 2012. The spacecraft's ion propulsion system enabled it to spiral away from Vesta and head toward Ceres, the most massive object in that region. Thanks to the power of ion propulsion, Dawn is the only mission ever targeted to orbit two deep-space destinations. JPL manages the Dawn mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team. For more information about Dawn, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn Elizabeth Landau NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6425 elizabeth.lan...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-313 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] 'J' Marks the Spot for Rosetta's Lander
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-310 'J' Marks the Spot for Rosetta's Lander Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 15, 2014 The European Space Agency's Rosetta's lander, Philae, will target Site J, an intriguing region on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that offers unique scientific potential, with hints of activity nearby, and minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites. The 220-pound (100-kilogram) lander is scheduled to reach the surface on November 11, where it will perform in-depth measurements to characterize the nucleus. Rosetta is an international mission spearheaded by the European Space Agency with support and instruments provided by NASA. Site J is on the head of the comet, an irregular shaped world that is just over 2.5 miles (four kilometers) across at its widest point. The decision to select Site J as the primary site was unanimous. The backup, Site C, is located on the body of the comet. As we have seen from recent close-up images, the comet is a beautiful but dramatic world - it is scientifically exciting, but its shape makes it operationally challenging, says Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne. None of the candidate landing sites met all of the operational criteria at the 100-percent level, but Site J is clearly the best solution. Over the weekend, the Landing Site Selection Group of engineers and scientists from Philae's Science, Operations and Navigation Center at the National Center of Space Studies of France (CNES), the Lander Control Center at DLR, and scientists representing the Philae Lander instruments and ESA's Rosetta team, met at CNES, Toulouse, France, to consider the available data and to choose the primary and backup sites. A number of critical aspects had to be considered, not least that it had to be possible to identify a safe trajectory for deploying Philae to the surface and that the density of visible hazards in the landing zone should be minimized. Once on the surface, other factors come into play, including the balance of daylight and night-time hours, and the frequency of communications passes with the orbiter. The descent to the comet is passive and it is only possible to predict that the landing point will be within a landing ellipse (typically a few hundred meters) in size. For each of Rosetta's candidate sites, a larger area -- four-tenths of a square mile (one square kilometer) -- was assessed. At Site J the majority of slopes are less than 30-degrees relative to the local vertical, reducing the chances of Philae toppling over during touchdown. Site J also appears to have relatively few boulders, and it receives sufficient daily illumination to recharge Philae and continue science operations on the surface beyond the initial battery-powered phase. Provisional assessment of the trajectory to Site J found that the descent time of Philae to the surface would be about seven hours, a length that does not compromise the on-comet observations by using up too much of the battery during the descent. Both Sites B and C were considered as the backup, but C was preferred because of a higher illumination profile and fewer boulders. Sites A and I had seemed attractive during first rounds of discussion, but were dismissed at the second round because they did not satisfy a number of the key criteria. A detailed operational timeline will now be prepared to determine the precise approach trajectory of Rosetta in order to deliver Philae to Site J. The landing must take place before mid-November, as the comet is predicted to grow more active as it moves closer to the sun. There's no time to lose, but now that we're closer to the comet, continued science and mapping operations will help us improve the analysis of the primary and backup landing sites, says ESA Rosetta flight director Andrea Accomazzo from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Of course, we cannot predict the activity of the comet between now and landing, and on landing day itself. A sudden increase in activity could affect the position of Rosetta in its orbit at the moment of deployment and in turn the exact location where Philae will land, and that's what makes this a risky operation. All commands for Philae's descent will be uploaded prior to the lander's separation from the Rosetta orbiter. Once deployed from Rosetta, Philae's descent will be autonomous, with the lander taking images and other observations of the comet's environment. Philae will touch down at the equivalent of walking pace and then use harpoons and ice screws to fix itself onto the comet's surface. It will then make a 360-degree panoramic image of the landing site to help determine where and in what orientation it has landed. The initial science phase will then begin, with other instruments analyzing the plasma and magnetic environment, and the surface and subsurface temperature. The lander will also drill and collect
[meteorite-list] Bright Green Meteor Seen Along West Coast
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/09/bright-green-meteor-streaks-across-metro-vancouvers-night-skies/ Bright green meteor streaks across Metro Vancouver's night skies Vancity Buzz September 13, 2014 There are numerous reports this evening that a large meteor was seen streaking over Metro Vancouver's night skies. Witnesses say it occurred at approximately 8:20 p.m. during dusk, streaking across the sky from an east to west trajectory towards the Pacific. The meteor burnt brightly for approximately 3 seconds and had a low altitude. The phenomena is also lighting up Twitter in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver Island. On August 18, a similar event happened, although it was much larger and brighter with scores of locals reporting that they saw a huge fireball flash turn the night skies of 10 p.m. into daytime. It also had a long tail and was followed by a large boom that sounded like an explosion. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] First Map of Rosetta's Comet
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-308 First Map of Rosetta's Comet Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 11, 2014 Scientists have found that the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko -- the target of study for the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission -- can be divided into several regions, each characterized by different classes of features. High-resolution images of the comet reveal a unique, multifaceted world. ESA's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at its destination about a month ago and is currently accompanying the comet as it progresses on its route toward the inner solar system. Scientists have analyzed images of the comet's surface taken by OSIRIS, Rosetta's scientific imaging system, and defined several different regions, each of which has a distinctive physical appearance. This analysis provides the basis for a detailed scientific description of 67P's surface. A map showing the comet's various regions is available at: http://go.nasa.gov/1pU26L2 Never before have we seen a cometary surface in such detail, says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Science (MPS) in Germany. In some of the images, one pixel corresponds to a scale of 30 inches (75 centimeters) on the nucleus. It is a historic moment -- we have an unprecedented resolution to map a comet, he says. The comet has areas dominated by cliffs, depressions, craters, boulders and even parallel grooves. While some of these areas appear to be quiet, others seem to be shaped by the comet's activity, in which grains emitted from below the surface fall back to the ground in the nearby area. This first map is, of course, only the beginning of our work, says Sierks. At this point, nobody truly understands how the surface variations we are currently witnessing came to be. As both comet 67P and Rosetta travel closer to the sun during the next few months, the OSIRIS team and other instruments on the payload will monitor the surface to look for changes. While scientists do not expect the borderlines they have identified for the comet's different regions to vary dramatically, even subtle transformations of the surface may help to explain how cometary activity created such a breathtaking world. The new comet maps will offer valuable insights for members of the Rosetta team, who plan to gather in Toulouse, France, on September 13 and 14, to determine a primary and backup landing site from five candidates they previously had selected. The scientific imaging system, OSIRIS, was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with Center of Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padua (Italy), the Astrophysical Laboratory of Marseille (France), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (Netherlands), the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (Spain), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain, and Sweden and the ESA Technical Directorate. Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI. Rosetta will be the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the sun, and deploy a lander to its surface. For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 a...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-308 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: September 4-9, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Flash-Memory Reformat Successful! - sols 3773-3778, September 04, 2014-September 09, 2014: Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The rover's Flash file system was successfully reformatted on Sol 3773 (Sept. 4, 2014). The Flash space available is slightly smaller (1%) than before the reformat, consistent with the reformatting process flagging some bad cells to avoid. On Sol 3775 (Sept. 6, 2014), some scripts and configuration files were copied back to Flash from EEPROM (other non-volatile storage) were they were kept during the reformat. Other configuration files were loaded from the ground on Sol 3776 (Sept. 7, 2014). The rover has performed without any anomalies or unusual behavior since the reformat. A drive was sequenced on Sol 3778 (Sept. 9, 2014), using visual odometry to navigate around potential rock obstacles. The drive stopped almost as soon as it started because the rover's visual odometry could not find enough visual features for the algorithm to converge. The plan ahead is to re-sequence the drive but to instruct the rover to use a different scene with more visual features for the visual odometry. As of Sol 3778 (Sept. 9, 2014), the solar array energy production was 694 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.879 and a solar array dust factor of 0.754. Total odometry is 25.28 miles (40.69 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA to hold Sept. 17 Briefing on MAVEN Mars Orbit Insertion, Events Coverage
September 12, 2014 NASA to hold Sept. 17 Briefing on MAVEN Mars Orbit Insertion, Events Coverage NASA will host a televised media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 17, to outline activities around the Sunday, Sept. 21 orbital insertion at Mars of the agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft. The briefing will be held in NASA's Headquarters' auditorium, 300 E Street SW in Washington, and broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the upper atmosphere of Mars. The mission's goal is to determine how the loss of atmospheric gas to space played a role in changing the Martian climate through time. Panelists include: -- Lisa May, lead program executive, Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington --Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder --David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland -- Guy Beutelschies, Lockheed Martin MAVEN program manager, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado Media can ask questions from participating NASA locations, or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Dwayne Brown at 202-358-1726 or dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation by noon Wednesday. The public also may ask questions on social media using the hashtag #askNASA. NASA Television Orbit Insertion Coverage NASA Television coverage of the MAVEN orbit insertion begins at 9:30 p.m. EDT and concludes at 10:45 p.m. on Sept. 21. The orbital insertion is targeted to begin at 9:37 p.m. The program will be carried on NTV-1 (Public) and NTV-2 (Education). A clean feed for media will be carried on NTV-3 (Media Channel). The media feed will contain views of the MAVEN Mission Support Area only, without graphics or interviews. A post-orbit insertion news conference is targeted for about two hours after orbital insertion. For NASA Television downlink information, scheduling information and streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv Media Accreditation Media are invited to attend the orbit insertion event Sept 21 at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado. Attending media must be U.S. citizens and bring government-issued photo identification. For accreditation, contact Gary Napier, 303-971-4012, gary.p.nap...@lmco.com by 5 p.m. MDT Thursday, Sept. 18. Social Media Members of the public are invited to follow the day-long NASA Social event on Sept. 21 by following the hashtags #MAVEN and #JourneytoMars on social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and others. Twitter postings throughout the day will come from official accounts @NASA, @MAVEN2Mars and @NASASocial. MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at University of Colorado, Boulder. The university provided two science instruments and leads science operations and education and public outreach for the mission. Goddard manages the project and provided two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided four science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations. For more about the MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven -end- Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Nancy Neal-Jones/Elizabeth Zubritsky Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 301-286-0039/301-614-5438 nancy.n.jo...@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.zubrit...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Second of Four Planned Maneuvers Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=262 MESSENGER Mission News September 12, 2014 Second of Four Planned Maneuvers Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations MESSENGER mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., conducted the second of four maneuvers designed to raise the spacecraft's minimum altitude sufficiently to extend orbital operations and delay the probe's inevitable impact onto Mercury's surface until early next spring. The first of the four maneuvers, completed on June 17, raised MESSENGER to an altitude at closest approach from 115 kilometers (71.4 miles) to 156.4 kilometers (97.2 miles) above the planet's surface. Because of progressive changes to the orbit over time, the spacecraft's minimum altitude continued to decrease. At the time of this most recent maneuver, MESSENGER was in an orbit with a closest approach of 24.3 kilometers (15.1 miles) above the surface of Mercury. With a velocity change of 8.57 meters per second (19.17 miles per hour), the spacecraft's four largest monopropellant thrusters (with a small contribution from four of the 12 smallest monopropellant thrusters) nudged the spacecraft to an orbit with a closest approach altitude of 94 kilometers (58.4 miles). This maneuver also increased the spacecraft's speed relative to Mercury at the maximum distance from Mercury, adding about 3.2 minutes to the spacecraft's eight-hour, two-minute orbit period. This view shows MESSENGER's orientation soon after the start of the maneuver. MESSENGER was 166.2 million kilometers (103.27 million miles) from Earth when the 2 minute, 15 second maneuver began at 11:55 a.m. EDT. Mission controllers at APL verified the start of the maneuver 9.2 minutes later, after the first signals indicating spacecraft thruster activity reached NASA's Deep Space Network tracking station outside of Madrid, Spain. Two more maneuvers, on October 24, 2014, and January 21, 2015, will again raise the spacecraft's minimum altitude, allowing scientists to continue to collect images and data from MESSENGER's instruments. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's first extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. MESSENGER is now in a second extended mission, which is scheduled to conclude in March 2015. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 8-12, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES September 8-12, 2014 o Ma'adim Vallis (08 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140908a o Avernus Colles (09 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140909a o Aeolis Mensae (10 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140910a o Pavonis Mons (11 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140911a o Volcanic Flow Surfaces (12 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140912a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Rocks show up from NIC crater....NOT very
For Now It's All Hypotheses As Critics Say Theory May Be Meteor-wrong Today Nicaragua According to the official government website, El19digital.com, Nicaraguan scientist, Jaime Incer Barquero, said that there is evidence of a meteor ... http://todaynicaragua.com/for-now-its-all-hypotheses-as-critics-say-theory-may-be-meteor-wrong/ That scientist is a biologist: http://www.drycanal.com/news-incer.htm Ron __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 29 - September 3, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Flash-Memory Reformat is Underway - sols 3767-3772, August 29, 2014-September 03, 2014: Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The project is taking steps to reformat the rover's Flash file system to correct the recurring reset problem. On Sols 3767 and 3768 (Aug. 29 and 30, 2014), the project sent special commands to put the rover into a mode that does not use the Flash file system. This was successful and the rover performed without any errors for those two sols. A diagnostic check of the flight software portion of Flash was also performed. For Sols 3769, 3770 and 3771 (Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2, 2014), the rover was operated back in its normal mode using the Flash files system. The rover remained under master sequence control for all three sols without any Flash-induced resets. On Sol 3772 (Sept. 3, 2014), the project began the process of copying a subset of necessary files from the Flash files system over to EEPROM (other non-volatile storage) for safe keeping during the reformat process. The plan ahead is to perform the reformat of the Flash files system, then restore the necessary files to Flash. At that point, the rover should be back into normal operation. As of Sol 3771 (Sept. 2, 2014), the solar array energy production was 713 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.852 and a solar array dust factor of 0.771. Total odometry is 25.28 miles (40.69 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MRO HiRISE Images: September 10, 2014
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES September 10, 2014 o Banded TARs in Iapygia http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_020782_1610 The tropics of Mars are commonly littered with small bright ripples that were somehow shaped by the wind. o Chaos in Eridania Basin http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037142_1430 Eridania is the name of topographically enclosed basin located in the Southern highlands of Mars that has been suggested to be the site of a large ancient lake or inland sea. o Mysterious Light-Toned Deposit in Vinogradov Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037163_1590 The southeastern floor of Vinogradov Crater is covered with several mysterious light-toned, sub-meter scale blobs that lack obvious layering. o Overlapping Lobate Lava Flows in Daedalia Planum http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037641_1560 The high-resolution of HiRISE images allows for reconstruction of complex volcanic surfaces including geological relationships within a flow field. All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Curiosity Rover Arrives at Mount Sharp
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-307 NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover Arrives at Martian Mountain Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 11, 2014 NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has reached the Red Planet's Mount Sharp, a Mount-Rainier-size mountain at the center of the vast Gale Crater and the rover mission's long-term prime destination. Curiosity now will begin a new chapter from an already outstanding introduction to the world, said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. After a historic and innovative landing along with its successful science discoveries, the scientific sequel is upon us. Curiosity's trek up the mountain will begin with an examination of the mountain's lower slopes. The rover is starting this process at an entry point near an outcrop called Pahrump Hills, rather than continuing on to the previously-planned, further entry point known as Murray Buttes. Both entry points lay along a boundary where the southern base layer of the mountain meets crater-floor deposits washed down from the crater's northern rim. It has been a long but historic journey to this Martian mountain, said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The nature of the terrain at Pahrump Hills and just beyond it is a better place than Murray Buttes to learn about the significance of this contact. The exposures at the contact are better due to greater topographic relief. The decision to head uphill sooner, instead of continuing to Murray Buttes, also draws from improved understanding of the region's geography provided by the rover's examinations of several outcrops during the past year. Curiosity currently is positioned at the base of the mountain along a pale, distinctive geological feature called the Murray formation. Compared to neighboring crater-floor terrain, the rock of the Murray formation is softer and does not preserve impact scars, as well. As viewed from orbit, it is not as well-layered as other units at the base of Mount Sharp. Curiosity made its first close-up study last month of two Murray formation outcrops, both revealing notable differences from the terrain explored by Curiosity during the past year. The first outcrop, called Bonanza King, proved too unstable for drilling, but was examined by the rover's instruments and determined to have high silicon content. A second outcrop, examined with the rover's telephoto Mast Camera, revealed a fine-grained, platy surface laced with sulfate-filled veins. While some of these terrain differences are not apparent in observations made by NASA's Mars orbiters, the rover team still relies heavily on images taken by the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to plan Curiosity's travel routes and locations for study. For example, MRO images helped the rover team locate mesas that are over 60 feet (18 meters) tall in an area of terrain shortly beyond Pahrump Hills, which reveal an exposure of the Murray formation uphill and toward the south. The team plans to use Curiosity's drill to acquire a sample from this site for analysis by instruments inside the rover. The site lies at the southern end of a valley Curiosity will enter this week from the north. Though this valley has a sandy floor the length of two football fields, the team expects it will be an easier trek than the sandy-floored Hidden Valley, where last month Curiosity's wheels slipped too much for safe crossing. Curiosity reached its current location after its route was modified earlier this year in response to excessive wheel wear. In late 2013, the team realized a region of Martian terrain littered with sharp, embedded rocks was poking holes in four of the rover's six wheels. This damage accelerated the rate of wear and tear beyond that for which the rover team had planned. In response, the team altered the rover's route to a milder terrain, bringing the rover farther south, toward the base of Mount Sharp. The wheels issue contributed to taking the rover farther south sooner than planned, but it is not a factor in the science-driven decision to start ascending here rather than continuing to Murray Buttes first, said Jennifer Trosper, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. We have been driving hard for many months to reach the entry point to Mount Sharp, Trosper said. Now that we've made it, we'll be adjusting the operations style from a priority on driving to a priority on conducting the investigations needed at each layer of the mountain. After landing inside Gale Crater in August 2012, Curiosity fulfilled in its first year of operations its major science goal of determining whether Mars ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. Clay-bearing sedimentary rocks on the crater floor, in an area called Yellowknife Bay, yielded evidence of a lakebed environment billions of years ago that offered fresh
Re: [meteorite-list] A Managua, Nicaragua meteorite?
Rob and Marco, I agree, sounds very plausible. However, if you read what CNN has to say, they've already determined it's from a meteorite (sheesh!): http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/tech/innovation/nicaragua-meteorite/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 The CNN article says NASA hasn't confirmed a link between the meteorite and the asteroid. But we did post this on our NEO website hours before the CNN posted their article: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news185.html I also just now sent Amanda Barnett at CNN a link to our update. Ron __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Nicaragua Crater meteor event 07SEP2014
We've added a new graphic to our site, courtesy of Paul Chodas, which shows the position and orbit of 2014 RC at the time of the Nicaragua explosion. http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news185.html http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/2014rcmas3.jpg Ron Baalke __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity's Vista Includes Long Tracks
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-304 Mars Rover Opportunity's Vista Includes Long Tracks Jet Propulsion Laboratory September 09, 2014 From a ridgeline viewpoint, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recently recorded a scene looking back over its own tracks made from nearly half a mile (more than 700 meters) of southbound driving. Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) recorded the component images on Aug. 15, 2014, from an elevated portion of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. A brief video places the scene into context with the rover's entire driving route of more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) since the mission's 2004 landing in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. The video is online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1325 The Pancam image in approximate true color is available at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18604 The Opportunity mission has been investigating outcrops on the western rim of Endeavour Crater for three years. The crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. During Opportunity's first decade on Mars and the 2004-to-2010 career of its twin, Spirit, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project yielded a range of findings proving wet environmental conditions on ancient Mars -- some very acidic, others milder and more conducive to supporting life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers Guy Webster 818-354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-304 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Fireball Observed Over Spain
http://rt.com/news/185992-fireball-spain-sky-meteor/ Great balls of fire: Meteor illuminates Spanish skyline (VIDEO) rt.com Published time: September 08, 2014 16:18 Edited time: September 09, 2014 07:01 Early risers got an unexpected treat on Sunday in Spain, as a fireball whistled across the country - lighting up the morning sky. It passed through eight regions, traveling the length of the country, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. The Spanish Meteor Network confirmed the fireball had passed over the country; however, they did not know where it had originated, the Local reported. It was also visible over Barcelona; however, not everyone would have managed to catch a glimpse as it passed over at 6.55am. Just under a year and a half ago, another fireball streaked across the Spanish capital Madrid. The celestial display was so bright it could be seen across the entire country. The eye-popping moment was caught on camera by the Hita Observatory at the University of Huelva at around 11:45pm local time (21:45 GMT). The object struck the atmosphere above the Villamuelas district in the province of Toledo, southwest of Madrid. Fireballs are caused by meteors burning up as they enter Earth's atmosphere. They travel at incredibly high speeds, up to 73km per second. Fireballs tend to be brighter than meteors, while especially bright fireballs such as the one over Spain on Sunday are often called bolides. In February 2013, Russia's Urals region was rocked by a meteorite explosion in the stratosphere. The impact wave damaged several buildings, while 1,200 people in Chelyabinsk had to seek medical attention. --- http://www.ibtimes.co.in/mass-ufo-scare-burning-meteorite-hits-spanish-skies-608700 Mass UFO Scare as Burning Meteorite Hits Spanish Skies By Minnie Nair International Business Times September 9, 2014 Panic and fear spread among residents and holiday makers in Barcelona when a burning meteorite was mistaken for a UFO. According to a report in Standard Media, hundreds of residents called up emergency services, while social media sites were abuzz with pictures and panicky messages after a meteorite lit up the Spanish skies with a trail of fire. While many mistook the meteorite for an alien intervention, some others thought it was a burning plane. The moments replicated the fall of a meteorite in Russia last year. In that incident, the burning meteorite had created moments of fear and confusion as it exploded with a loud bang, which created vibrations that left a few buildings damaged. The meteor crashed on Russia's Ural Mountains, injuring at least 950 people, leaving them with cuts and bruises. The places which reported the sighting are: Barcelona, Aragan, Castilla-La Manch, Castilla y Lean, Valencia, AndalucAa and Extremadura. The meteorite was also recorded by the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet). We think the meteorite may have flown over more areas of the country including Aragon, however, because it was pretty cloudy there we believe it may have been widely missed, and was only spotted when it emerged over a clear area that included Barcelona, the report quoted Spanish astrophysicist Jose Maria Trigo as saying. But nevertheless, it has been made easier thanks to all the social media video footage and pictures, Trigo added. While it is believed that the meteorite did not completely burn down and has certainly touched the surface of the earth, the crash location is yet to be discovered. According to Trigo, the very size of the meteorite determined that it could not completely burn down, before touching base on earth. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Holds Teleconference to Discuss Science Campaign of Curiosity Mars Rover
NASA Holds Teleconference to Discuss Science Campaign of Curiosity Mars Rover September 9, 2014 NASA will host a teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 11, to discuss mission status and the future science campaign for the Mars rover Curiosity mission. Participants in the teleconference will be: -- Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington -- John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California -- Kathryn Stack, Curiosity Rover Mission Scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena To participate, reporters must contact Gina Fontes at 818-354-5011 or georgina.d.fon...@jpl.nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation not later than noon Thursday. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio Visuals for this teleconference will be available at the start of the event at: http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon The teleconference, with visuals, will also be streamed live at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl For information about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl -end- Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 a...@jpl.nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Reports of Meteorite Strike in Nicaragua and Update on Asteroid 2014 RC
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news185.html Reports of Meteorite Strike in Nicaragua and Update on Asteroid 2014 RC NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office September 8, 2014 Reports in the media over the weekend that a small meteorite impacted in Nicaragua have yet to be confirmed. A loud explosion was heard near Managua's international airport Saturday night, and photos of a 24-meter (80-foot) crater have been circulated. As yet, no eyewitness accounts or imagery have come to light of the fireball flash or debris trail that is typically associated with a meteor of the size required to produce such a crater. Since the explosion in Nicaragua occurred a full 13 hours before the close passage of asteroid 2014 RC, these two events are unrelated. As predicted, the small asteroid 2014 RC flew safely past the Earth at 18:01 UT (2:01 pm EDT, 11:01 am PDT) on September 7 at a distance of 33,550 km (20,800 miles) above the Earth's surface. Astronomers around the world took the opportunity to observe this fairly rare event, and learned that the asteroid is about 12 meters (40 feet) in size and is spinning very rapidly. R. P. Binzel, D. Polishook (MIT) and S. J. Bus (Univ. Hawaii) observed 2014 RC from NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Sept. 6 in near-infrared wavelengths. From their spectra, they conclude that the asteroid belongs to the Sq-class, which has an average albedo (reflectivity) of 24%. Based on the available measurements of the asteroid' intrinsic brightness, they conclude that 2014 RC is about 12 meters (40 feet) across, roughly the size of a school bus. This puts 2014 RC at about one-half the size of the February 15, 2013 Chelyabinsk impactor. Lance Benner and Marina Brozovic, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, meanwhile, reported that radar observations of 2014 RC taken at the Goldstone site in southern California on September 6-7 were weaker than expected due to an extreme Doppler broadening of the radar echoes. If the 12-meter size is adopted and an equatorial radar view is assumed, then the radar measurements indicate an extremely fast rotation rate of at least several revolutions per minute. Following up on this preliminary result, A. Thirouin, B. Skiff, and N. Moskovitz (Lowell Observatory) analyzed the brightness variations of 2014 RC across multiple nights using Lowell Observatory' 1.1m Hall telescope, Lowell's 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope and NASA's IRTF. A subset of these images have been combined into an movie which can be downloaded here: http://www2.lowell.edu/users/nmosko/2014RC_flyby.gif These data indicate a best fit rotation period of about 15.8 seconds, and a low light curve amplitude of ~0.1 magnitude. This is the fastest rotating asteroid observed to date, roughly 50% faster than the previous record holder. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations For Mars
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasas-maven-spacecraft-makes-final-preparations-for-mars/ NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Final Preparations For Mars Izumi Hansen and Elizabeth Zubritsky NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center September 8, 2014 On Sept. 21, 2014, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft will complete roughly 10 months of travel and enter orbit around the Red Planet. The orbit-insertion maneuver will be carried out as the spacecraft approaches Mars, wrapping up an interplanetary journey of 442 million miles (711 million kilometers). Six thruster engines will fire briefly for a settling burn that damps out deviations in pointing. Then the six main engines will ignite two by two in quick succession and will burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be captured in an elliptical orbit. This milestone will mark the culmination of 11 years of concept and development for MAVEN, setting the stage for the mission's science phase, which will investigate Mars as no other mission has. We're the first mission devoted to observing the upper atmosphere of Mars and how it interacts with the sun and the solar wind, said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for MAVEN at the University of Colorado in Boulder. These observations will help scientists determine how much gas from Mars' atmosphere has been lost to space throughout the planet's history and which processes have driven that loss. En route Procedures to line up MAVEN for proper orbit insertion began shortly after MAVEN launched in November 2013. These included two trajectory-correction maneuvers, performed in December 2013 and February 2014. Calibration of the mission's three suites of science instruments - the Particles and Fields Package, the Remote Sensing Package and the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer - was completed during the cruise phase to Mars. Every day at Mars is gold, said David Mitchell, MAVEN's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The early checks of instrument and spacecraft systems during cruise phase enable us to move into the science collection phase shortly after MAVEN arrives at Mars. The voyage also gave the team an opportunity to take data on the interplanetary solar wind using the Fields and Particles Package. Meanwhile, teams in California, Colorado and Maryland carried out rehearsals of the entire orbit insertion twice. The science team also performed a weeklong simulation of the planning and implementation required to obtain science data. Two months prior to arrival at Mars, all instruments were turned off, in preparation for orbit insertion. Into orbit During orbit insertion, MAVEN will be controlled by its on-board computers. By that time, the team will have uploaded the most up-to-date information about the spacecraft's location, velocity and orientation. The insertion instructions will have been updated, and the fuel valves will be open, to warm the fuel to an operating temperature of about 77 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit (25 to 26 degrees Celsius). If all goes well, the spacecraft will need no further commands from the ground. The important exception is that final trajectory corrections could be made, if needed, 24 hours or 6 hours prior to insertion. That would only happen, however, if the navigation team concluded that the spacecraft was coming in at too low of an altitude. Otherwise, during the last 24 hours, the spacecraft will carry out preprogrammed procedures to make all systems as quiet as possible, which is the safest condition for orbit insertion. These steps include automatically executing a new version of the fault protection, which will tell the craft how to react to an on-board component anomaly leading up to or during orbit insertion. In addition, the spacecraft will have to reorient itself so that the thrusters are pointed in the correct direction for the burn. In this final orientation, MAVEN's high-gain antenna, which is used for most communication with the spacecraft, will point away from Earth. During that period, MAVEN's low-gain antenna will be used for limited communication capacity at a reduced data rate. At last, the insertion will begin. For the next 33 minutes, the craft will burn more than half the fuel onboard as it enters an orbit 236 miles (380 kilometers) above the northern pole. Three minutes after the engines turn off, the MAVEN computers will reinstate the normal safeguards, reorient the spacecraft to point the high-gain antenna toward Earth, and reestablish normal communications. At that point, MAVEN will transmit the data obtained during the insertion back to Earth, along with information on the state of the spacecraft, and the MAVEN team will learn if everything worked properly. Then, there will be a sigh of relief, said Carlos Gomez-Rosa, MAVEN mission and science operations manager at Goddard. Later, the team will upload new instructions
[meteorite-list] House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on ASTEROIDS Act on September 10
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/house-subcommittee-to-hold-hearing-on-asteroids-act House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on ASTEROIDS Act on September 10 Marcia S. Smith 03-Sep-2014 The Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a hearing next week on the ASTEROIDS Act, which was introduced in July by Rep. Bill Posey (R- FL) and Derek Kilmer (D-WA). The goal of the legislation is to establish and protect property rights for commercial exploration and exploitation of asteroids. Two U.S. companies promoting such activities are Planetary Resources, headquartered in Kilmer's Redmond, WA district, and Deep Space Industries of Houston, TX. Posey's district includes Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Five witnesses have been announced for the hearing, four of whom are scientists and one is a space lawyer. The scientists are: * Jim Green, Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division; * Phil Christensen, an Arizona State University (ASU) professor who co-chairs the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) and was a member of the NRC's Decadal Survey for planetary science; * Jim Bell, another ASU Professor who is President of the grass-roots space advocacy group The Planetary Society; and * Mark Sykes, CEO and Director of the Tucson, AZ-based non-profit solar system exploration advocacy group Planetary Science Institute. The fifth witness is Joanne Gabrynowicz, an internationally recognized space lawyer who for many years before her retirement headed the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi and was editor of the Journal of Space Law. She is currently a member of the NASA Advisory Council's Planetary Protection Subcommittee that advises the agency on matters concerning the prevention of forward or back contamination of solar system bodies. The concept of mining asteroids involves many scientific, technical and economic considerations, but property rights is a particularly thorny issue. Under the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, there is no national sovereignty in space so no country can own an asteroid. Pursuant to the treaty, governments are responsible for the actions of their non-governmental entities, such as a company, sparking debate over whether a company can own an asteroid or any part of it. Without ownership rights to minerals mined from asteroids, it is unlikely that companies would pursue asteroid mining even if such an activity could prove to be otherwise feasible. The ASTEROIDS Act would apply only to U.S. companies and seeks to ensure that materials mined from an asteroid by a U.S. company are the property of that company. It would not confer ownership of the asteroid itself. The hearing is at 10:00 am ET on September 10, 2014 in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. -- Note: the hearing will be webcast live here http://science.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-space-exploring-our-solar-system-asteroids-act-key-step Ron Baalke __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Twelfth Batch of MESSENGER Data Released; Water Ice Exploration Tool Unveiled
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=261 MESSENGER Mission News September 5, 2014 Twelfth Batch of MESSENGER Data Released; Water Ice Exploration Tool Unveiled Data collected during MESSENGER's 31st through 36th month in orbit around Mercury were released to the public today by the Planetary Data System (PDS), an organization that archives and distributes NASA's planetary mission data. With this release, data are now available to the public through the sixth full Mercury solar day of MESSENGER orbital operations. NASA requires that all of its planetary missions archive their data in the PDS, which provides documented, peer-reviewed data to the research community. This 12th delivery of MESSENGER data extends the formatted raw and calibrated data available at the PDS for the spacecraft's science instruments and the radio science investigation to the period from September 18, 2013, to March 17, 2014. Spacecraft, planet, instrument, camera-matrix, and events (SPICE) data from launch through the period of this release are also included. The ACT-REACT QuickMap interactive Web interface to MESSENGER data has been updated to incorporate the full coverage of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) orbital data and the Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (VIRS) measurements included in this delivery. QuickMap can be accessed via links on the MESSENGER websites at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/messenger . MDIS mosaics can be downloaded from http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/mosaics.html . In addition, the MESSENGER team has unveiled a version of the public QuickMap interface tailored for students and educators -- the Water Ice Data Exploration (WIDE) tool. The WIDE tool highlights the sequence of data acquired over four decades, culminating in MESSENGER's observations, which led to confirmation of the proposal that water ice is present in Mercury's north polar region. Observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft have provided compelling support for the 20-year-old hypothesis that Mercury hosts abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters, said Montana State University's Keri Hallau, of MESSENGER's Education and Public Outreach team. We wanted to create a suite of materials to engage the public in the scientific process that led to this discovery. The WIDE suite consists of a video presentation from a mission scientist and engineer, a pencil-and-paper activity, and an introductory version of QuickMap, the interactive data-mapping tool. Each of these individual parts examines Mariner 10 flyby data from the 1970s, Earth-based radar data from the early 1990s, and MESSENGER flyby and orbital data from several instruments to show the progression of evidence in support of this conclusion. The tool is available online at http://www.messenger-education.org/teachers/wide.php . The data for this release are available online at http://pds.nasa.gov/subscription_service/SS-20140905.html, and all of the MESSENGER data archived at the PDS are available at http://pds.nasa.gov . The team will deliver the next mission data set for release by PDS in March 2015. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft was launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's first extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. MESSENGER is now in a second extended mission, which is scheduled to conclude in March 2015. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery-class mission for NASA. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 1-5, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES September 1-5, 2014 o Lava Channel (01 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140901a o Pavonis Mons (02 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140902a o Dunes (03 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140903a o Nilus Mensae (04 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140904a o Olympus Mons (05 September 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140905a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Instrument Aboard Rosetta Spacecraft Returns First Science Results
September 4, 2014 NASA Instrument aboard European Spacecraft Returns First Science Results A NASA instrument aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Rosetta orbiter has successfully made its first delivery of science data from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The instrument, named Alice, began mapping the comet's surface last month, recording the first far-ultraviolet light spectra of the comet's surface. From the data, the Alice team discovered the comet is unusually dark -- darker than charcoal-black -- when viewed in ultraviolet wavelengths. Alice also detected both hydrogen and oxygen in the comet's coma, or atmosphere. Rosetta scientists also discovered the comet's surface so far shows no large water-ice patches. The team expected to see ice patches on the comet's surface because it is too far away for the sun's warmth to turn its water into vapor. We're a bit surprised at just how unreflective the comet's surface is and how little evidence of exposed water-ice it shows, said Alan Stern, Alice principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Alice is probing the origin, composition and workings of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to gather sensitive, high-resolution insights that cannot be obtained by either ground-based or Earth-orbiting observation. It has more than 1,000 times the data-gathering capability of instruments flown a generation ago, yet it weighs less than nine pounds (four kilograms) and draws just four watts of power. The instrument is one of two full instruments on board Rosetta that are funded by NASA. The agency also provided portions of two other instrument suites. Other U.S. contributions aboard the spacecraft are the Microwave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO), the Ion and Electron Sensor (IES), part of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium Suite, and the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer (DFMS) electronics package for the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion Neutral Analysis (ROSINA). They are part of a suite of 11 total science instruments aboard Rosetta. MIRO is designed to provide data on how gas and dust leave the surface of the nucleus to form the coma and tail that gives comets their intrinsic beauty. IES is part of a suite of five instruments to analyze the plasma environment of the comet, particularly the coma. To obtain the orbital velocity necessary to reach its comet target, the Rosetta spacecraft took advantage of four gravity assists (three from Earth, one from Mars) and an almost three-year period of deep space hibernation, waking up in January 2014 in time to prepare for its rendezvous with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta also carries a lander, Philae, which will drop to the comet's surface in November 2014. The comet observations will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the role comets may have played in providing Earth with water, and perhaps even life. Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center in Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen; French National Space Agency in Paris; and the Italian Space Agency in Rome. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, manages the U.S. contribution to the Rosetta mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL also built the MIRO instrument and hosts its principal investigator, Samuel Gulkis. The Southwest Research Institute, located in San Antonio and Boulder, developed Rosetta's IES and Alice instruments and hosts their principal investigators, James Burch (IES) and Alan Stern (Alice). For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta -end- Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 a...@jpl.nasa.gov Maria Martinez Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo. 210-522-3305 mmarti...@swri.org Markus Bauer European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands 011-31-71-565-6799 markus.ba...@esa.int __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Small Asteroid to Pass Close by Earth on September 7 (2014 RC)
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news184.html Small Asteroid to Pass Close by Earth on September 7 (2014 RC) NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office September 3, 2014 [Graphic] This graphic depicts the passage of asteroid 2014 RC past Earth on September 7, 2014. At time of closest approach, the space rock will be about one-tenth the distance from Earth to the moon. Times indicated on the graphic are Universal Time. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A small asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will safely pass very close to the Earth on Sunday, 7 September 2014. This small asteroid was initially discovered on the night of 31 August by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson AZ, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. Both reported their observations to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, MA. Additional follow-up observations by the Catalina Sky Survey and the University of Hawaii 88-inch on Mauna Kea confirmed the orbit of 2014 RC. From its brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 20 meters (60 feet) in size. Based on current calculations, the best estimate for closest approach will be on 7 September, 2014, at about 18:15 UTC (2:15 PM EDT) at approximately 1/10th the distance from the Earth to the Moon, or at about 40,000 kilometers (25,000 miles). Its apparent magnitude at closest approach will be about 11.5, rendering it unobservable to the unaided eye. However, amateur astronomers with small telescopes might glimpse the fast moving appearance of this near-Earth asteroid. The asteroid will pass below the Earth and the geosynchronous ring of communications and weather satellites orbiting 35,890 km (22,300 miles) above our planet's surface. While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to the Earth or satellites, its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids. While 2014 RC will not impact the Earth, its orbit will bring it back to the Earth's neighborhood in the future. It's future motion will be closely monitored but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified. For a heliocentric view of the orbit of asteroid 2014 RC with respect to the Earth and other plan ets, please see: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2014+RCorb=1 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Japan Nears Launch of Hayabusa 2 Probe to Retrieve Asteroid Samples
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1409/01hayabusa2/ Japan nears launch of probe to retrieve asteroid samples BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW September 1, 2014 The Hayabusa 2 asteroid probe, on track for liftoff this winter, will be shipped to its island launch base at the end of September for final preparations to start the most audacious space exploration mission ever attempted by Japan. The mission will take off on top of an H-2A launcher as soon as December, fly to an asteroid scientists believe is a relic from the genesis of the solar system, drop a European-built lander, and return to Earth in 2020 with extraterrestrial rock samples. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency revealed Hayabusa 2 to media Sunday as it neared the finish line in a four-year effort to design, construct and test the spacecraft. Japanese officials have not announced the target launch date, but they say the mission is on schedule to lift off as soon as December in a narrow window when Earth and Hayabusa 2's target asteroid are properly positioned to make the journey possible. Backup launch windows are available in June and December 2015. The spacecraft, now almost fully assembled for flight, will soon wrap up testing at JAXA's Sagamihara campus near Tokyo, according to Hitoshi Kuninaka, Hayabusa 2's project manager. At the end of September, the spacecraft will be transported to Tanegashima, Kuninaka said. Hayabusa 2's launch is next in line for liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center -- located on Tanegashima Island in southwestern Japan -- after an Oct. 7 launch of the Himawari 8 weather satellite. Once the spacecraft arrives at the launch site, Kuninaka said technicians will install pyrotechnic charges for its mission, which include explosives to excavate material from beneath the asteroid's surface. Ground crews will also add the mission's flight batteries and fill the probe with xenon gas and hydrazine propellant. JAXA says the Hayabusa 2 mission's cost is 28.9 billion yen, or about $275 million. Hayabusa 2's launch follows four years after its namesake -- the hard-luck Hayabusa mission -- returned to Earth with microscopic specimens collected from asteroid Itokawa. Engineers designed Hayabusa with upgrades to expand its scientific payoff and increase its chance for success. Hayabusa 2 carries four xenon-fueled ion thrusters for the voyage to asteroid 1999 JU3, an object with a diameter of about 3,200 feet that researchers believe is made of primitive rock left over from the ancient solar system. After a swingby of Earth in late 2015 to get a gravity boost, the 1,320-pound craft will arrive at 1999 JU3 in June 2018 and loiter around the asteroid for about 18 months. Once it arrives at asteroid 1999 JU3, Hayabusa 2 will survey the rock with an array of instruments, including imagers, a spectrometer, and a terrain-mapping altimeter. The craft will also release a small Japanese rover named MINERVA to hop across the surface of the asteroid and deploy the MASCOT lander developed by the German Aerospace Center, or DLR. Hayabusa spent about three months exploring Itokawa, an asteroid about half the size of 1999 JU3. Hayabusa 2's destination is a different type of miniature world than Itokawa. Asteroid 1999 JU3 is a C-type asteroid, a classification of primitive objects made of organic and hydrated minerals. Itokawa is an S-type asteroid composed of rocks and metals heated and modified over the solar system's 4.5 billion year history, causing the material to lose chemical markers left over from the dawn of the solar system. Scientists expect the Hayabusa 2 samples to hold a record of the tumultuous early phases of the solar system's formation, including the basic building blocks of life such as amino acids. Hayabusa 2 will collect up to three samples from 1999 JU3, including material blasted from beneath the asteroid's surface by a explosive grapefruit-sized copper impactor released from the mothership. Depending on the texture of the rocks on 1999 JU3, Hayabusa 2 should pick up between a gram and several grams of samples. After up to three close approaches to acquire samples, Hayabusa 2 will depart the asteroid in December 2019 and deploy a sample-bearing re-entry capsule into Earth's atmosphere in December 2020. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Curiosity, Cassini Among 7 Extended Planetary Missions
http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/41709curiosity-cassini-among-7-extended-planetary-mi ssions Curiosity, Cassini Among 7 Extended Planetary Missions By Dan Leone Space News August 29, 2014 WASHINGTON - NASA approved extensions for all seven missions that were vetted by senior scientists in the agency's 2014 senior review of operating planetary science missions, a senior NASA official told SpaceNews Aug. 27. We sent out the letters to the projects [and] those letters state that we're not canceling any missions, Jim Green, NASA's Planetary Science Division Director, said after a meeting at the National Research Council in Washington. Green declined to discuss specifics, although he did say NASA would force some of the missions to run leaner and meaner [by] cutting back in various aspects. The details of the senior review board's findings, and NASA's formal response to those findings, is to be released the week of Sept. 1, Green said. The seven missions up for review were: * The Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity: the car-sized rover that landed on the red planet in 2012 for a two-year primary mission and has been roving ever since, despite sustaining rock damage to its aluminum wheels. * The Cassini Saturn orbiter, which arrived at the gas giant in 2004 on a four-year primary mission. * The Moon-mapping Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched on a one-year primary mission in 2009. * The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which landed in 2004 on a 92-day mission and is still roving. * The Analyzer of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms-3, a partially NASA-funded instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, which arrived at Mars in 2004 on a primary mission of just under two years. * Mars Odyssey, an orbiter that arrived at Mars in 2001 on a 32-month primary mission. * The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at Mars in 2006 on a two-year primary mission. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Invites Public to Submit Messages for Asteroid Mission Time Capsule (OSIRIS-REx)
September 2, 2014 NASA Invites Public to Submit Messages for Asteroid Mission Time Capsule NASA is inviting the worldwide public to submit short messages and images on social media that could be placed in a time capsule aboard a spacecraft launching to an asteroid in 2016. Called the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), the spacecraft will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2019, collect a sample and return the cache in a capsule to Earth in 2023 for detailed study. The robotic mission will spend more than two years at the 1,760-foot (500-meter)-wide asteroid and return a minimum of 2 ounces (60 grams) of its surface material. Topics for submissions by the public should be about solar system exploration in 2014 and predictions for space exploration activities in 2023. The mission team will choose 50 tweets and 50 images to be placed in the capsule. Messages can be submitted Sept. 2 - 30. Our progress in space exploration has been nothing short of amazing, says Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. I look forward to the public taking their best guess at what the next 10 years holds and then comparing their predictions with actual missions in development in 2023. This event is the second of NASA's efforts to engage space enthusiasts around the world in the OSIRIS-REx mission, following the agency's January invitation to participate in Messages to Bennu, which asked the public to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard the spacecraft. It is exciting to think that some people may formulate predictions then have the chance to help make their prediction a reality over the next decade, said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. When the sample return capsule returns to Earth in 2023 with the asteroid material, the mission team will open the time capsule to view the messages and images, at which time the selected submissions will be posted online at: http://www.asteroidmission.org/timecapsule OSIRIS-REx has to take many years to perform a complex asteroid sample return, said Bruce Betts, the director of science and technology at The Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, a public outreach partner on the asteroid mission. A time capsule capitalizes on the long duration of the mission to engage the public in thinking about space exploration -- where are we now, and where will we be. The OSIRIS-REx mission is focused on finding answers to basic questions about the composition of the very early solar system and the source of organic materials and water that made life possible on Earth. The mission also will contribute to NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and support the agency's efforts to understand the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects and characterize those suitable for future asteroid exploration missions. NASA's ARM is a first-ever mission to identify, capture and redirect a near-Earth asteroid to a stable orbit around the moon, where astronauts will explore it in the 2020s, and return with samples. The mission will advance the new technologies and spaceflight experience needed for humans to explore Mars in the 2030s. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will provide overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance. The University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator institution. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver will build the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For details on procedures and rules for submitting a message and image, visit: http://www.asteroidmission.org/timecapsule More information is available online about Messages to Bennu, at: http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/messages/bennu/ For more about the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex -end- Dwayne Brown / Trent Perrotto Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 / 202-358-0321 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov / trent.j.perro...@nasa.gov Nancy Neal-Jones / William Steigerwald Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-0039 / 301-286-5017 nancy.n.jo...@nasa.gov / william.a.steigerw...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Dawn Journal - August 31, 2014
http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/2014/08/31/dawn-journal-august-31/ Dawn Journal by Marc Rayman August 31, 2014 Dear Omnipodawnt Readers, Dawn draws ever closer to the mysterious Ceres, the largest body between the sun and Pluto not yet visited by a probe from Earth. The spacecraft is continuing to climb outward from the sun atop a blue-green beam of xenon ions from its uniquely efficient ion propulsion system. The constant, gentle thrust is reshaping its solar orbit so that by March 2015, it will arrive at the first dwarf planet ever discovered. Once in orbit, it will undertake an ambitious exploration of the exotic world of ice and rock that has been glimpsed only from afar for more than two centuries. An important characteristic of this interplanetary expedition is that Dawn can linger at its destinations, conducting extensive observations. Since December, we have presented overviews of all the phases of the mission at Ceres save one. (In addition, questions posted by readers each month, occasionally combined with an answer, have helped elucidate some of the interesting features of the mission.) We have described how Dawn will approach its gargantuan new home (with an equatorial diameter of more than 600 miles, or 975 kilometers) and slip into orbit with the elegance of a celestial dancer. The spacecraft will unveil the previously unseen sights with its suite of sophisticated sensors from progressively lower altitude orbits, starting at 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers), then from survey orbit at 2,730 miles (4,400 kilometers), and then from the misleadingly named high altitude mapping orbit (HAMO) only 910 miles (1,470 kilometers) away. To travel from one orbit to another, it will use its extraordinary ion propulsion system to spiral lower and lower and lower. This month, we look at the final phase of the long mission, as Dawn dives down to the low altitude mapping orbit (LAMO) at 230 miles (375 kilometers). We will also consider what future awaits our intrepid adventurer after it has accomplished the daring plans at Ceres. It will take the patient and tireless robot two months to descend from HAMO to LAMO, winding in tighter and tighter loops as it goes. By the time it has completed the 160 revolutions needed to reach LAMO, Dawn will be circling Ceres every 5.5 hours. (Ceres rotates on its own axis in 9.1 hours.) The spacecraft will be so close that Ceres will appear as large as a soccer ball seen from less than seven inches (17 centimeters) away. In contrast, Earth will be so remote that the dwarf planet would look to terrestrial observers no larger than a soccer ball from as far as 170 miles (270 kilometers). Dawn will have a uniquely fabulous view. As in the higher orbits, Dawn will scrutinize Ceres with all of its scientific instruments, returning pictures and other information to eager Earthlings. The camera and visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) will reveal greater detail than ever on the appearance and the mineralogical composition of the strange landscape. Indeed, the photos will be four times sharper than those from HAMO (and well over 800 times better than the best we have now from Hubble Space Telescope). But just as in LAMO at Vesta, the priority will be on three other sets of measurements which probe even beneath the surface. All of the mass within Ceres combines to hold Dawn in orbit, exerting a powerful gravitational grip on the ship. But as the spacecraft moves through its orbit, any variations in the internal structure of Ceres from one place to another will lead to slight perturbations of the orbit. If, for example, there is a large region of unusually dense material, even if deep underground, the craft will speed up slightly as it travels toward it. After Dawn passes overhead, the same massive feature will slightly retard its progress, slowing it down just a little. Dawn will be in almost constant radio contact with Earth during LAMO. When it is pointing its payload of sensors at the surface, it will broadcast a faint radio signal through one of its small auxiliary antennas so exquisitely sensitive receivers on a planet far, far away can detect it. At other times, in order to transmit its findings from LAMO, it will aim its main antenna directly at Earth. In both cases, the slightest changes in speed toward or away from Earth will be revealed in the Doppler shift, in which the frequency of the radio waves changes, much as the pitch of a siren goes up and then down as an ambulance approaches and then recedes. Using this and other remarkably powerful techniques mastered for traveling throughout the solar system, navigators will carefully plot the tiny variations in Dawn's orbit and from that determine the distribution of mass throughout the interior of the dwarf planet. The spacecraft will use its sophisticated gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) to determine the atomic constituents of the material on
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 21-28, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Flash-Memory Reformat Planned - sols 3759-3766, August 21, 2014-August 28, 2014: Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading toward 'Marathon Valley', a putative location for abundant clay minerals. However, flash-memory induced resets have increased in occurrence, preventing meaningful science until this problem can be corrected. The project is developing plans to reformat the flash file system to correct the problem. A flash-memory reformat was done successfully five years ago on Spirit, but this will be the first time on Opportunity. The project is preparing the rover for the reformatting. With no master sequence running, the flash memory is being systematically emptied of science data products. On Sol 3762 (Aug. 24, 2014), the project activated a new communication table on the rover, insuring predictable communication for the next several weeks. Due to the complexity of the frequent resets hitting during high-gain antenna passes causing subsequent X-band faults, the team sent a real-time command of a special sequence that converts the next several X-band passes to use the low-gain antenna. This was completed on Sol 3766 (Aug. 26, 2014). The next step in the plan is to boot the rover into a mode that does not use the flash file system. This will allow confirmation of the health of the rover independent of the flash file system. Also, the operations team has sequenced a checksum test of the lower portion of flash to get some data on the physical heath of the flash memory chips in general. Remaining science data will be returned from the flash file system prior to the reformat. The rover remains power positive with a healthy energy balance, thermally stable and communicative both over X-band with the DSN and via UHF relay with the orbiters. As of Sol 3764 (Aug. 26, 2014), the solar array energy production was 680 watt-hours with an estimated atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.858 and a solar array dust factor of 0.753. Total odometry as of Sol 3765 (Aug. 27, 2014) is 25.28 miles (40.69 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 25-29, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES August 25-29, 2014 o Olympia Undae (25 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140825a o Landslide (26 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140826a o Ravi Vallis (27 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140827a o Ares Vallis (28 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140828a o Dark Slope Streaks (29 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140829a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA's Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-291 NASA's Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 28, 2014 NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted an eruption of dust around a young star, possibly the result of a smashup between large asteroids. This type of collision can eventually lead to the formation of planets. Scientists had been regularly tracking the star, called NGC 2547-ID8, when it surged with a huge amount of fresh dust between August 2012 and January 2013. We think two big asteroids crashed into each other, creating a huge cloud of grains the size of very fine sand, which are now smashing themselves into smithereens and slowly leaking away from the star, said lead author and graduate student Huan Meng of the University of Arizona, Tucson. While dusty aftermaths of suspected asteroid collisions have been observed by Spitzer before, this is the first time scientists have collected data before and after a planetary system smashup. The viewing offers a glimpse into the violent process of making rocky planets like ours. Rocky planets begin life as dusty material circling around young stars. The material clumps together to form asteroids that ram into each other. Although the asteroids often are destroyed, some grow over time and transform into proto-planets. After about 100 million years, the objects mature into full-grown, terrestrial planets. Our moon is thought to have formed from a giant impact between proto-Earth and a Mars-size object. In the new study, Spitzer set its heat-seeking infrared eyes on the dusty star NGC 2547-ID8, which is about 35 million years old and lies 1,200 light-years away in the Vela constellation. Previous observations had already recorded variations in the amount of dust around the star, hinting at possible ongoing asteroid collisions. In hope of witnessing an even larger impact, which is a key step in the birth of a terrestrial planet, the astronomers turned to Spitzer to observe the star regularly. Beginning in May 2012, the telescope began watching the star, sometimes daily. A dramatic change in the star came during a time when Spitzer had to point away from NGC 2547-ID8 because our sun was in the way. When Spitzer started observing the star again five months later, the team was shocked by the data they received. We not only witnessed what appears to be the wreckage of a huge smashup, but have been able to track how it is changing -- the signal is fading as the cloud destroys itself by grinding its grains down so they escape from the star, said Kate Su of the University of Arizona and co-author on the study. Spitzer is the best telescope for monitoring stars regularly and precisely for small changes in infrared light over months and even years. A very thick cloud of dusty debris now orbits the star in the zone where rocky planets form. As the scientists observe the star system, the infrared signal from this cloud varies based on what is visible from Earth. For example, when the elongated cloud is facing us, more of its surface area is exposed and the signal is greater. When the head or the tail of the cloud is in view, less infrared light is observed. By studying the infrared oscillations, the team is gathering first-of-its-kind data on the detailed process and outcome of collisions that create rocky planets like Earth. We are watching rocky planet formation happen right in front of us, said George Rieke, a University of Arizona co-author of the new study. This is a unique chance to study this process in near real-time. The team is continuing to keep an eye on the star with Spitzer. They will see how long the elevated dust levels persist, which will help them calculate how often such events happen around this and other stars. And they might see another smashup while Spitzer looks on. The results of this study are posted online Thursday in the journal Science. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer Whitney Clavin Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-4673 whitney.cla...@jpl.nasa.gov Felicia Chou NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0257 felicia.c...@nasa.gov 2014-291 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MRO HiRISE Images: August 27, 2014
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES August 27, 2014 o A Possible Landing Site in Aram Dorsum for the ExoMars Rover http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037030_1880 One of the important roles of HiRISE is to take high resolution images of potential landing sites for future landing missions. o Weird Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037237_1435 This feature has a strange appearance, as if the crater has feet with toes sticking out of two sides. o A New Impact Crater Near NASA's InSight Landing Region http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037328_1845 This recent image, acquired to certify a landing site for the mission, shows a distinctive crater with a very sharp rim and dark ejecta. o Mantled Terrain in the Southern Mid-Latitudes http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037474_1380 The pitted texture suggests that ice is sublimating out from the deposits as the region is warmed under current lower obliquity conditions. All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Completes Key Review of World's Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey to Mars
August 27, 2014 NASA Completes Key Review of World's Most Powerful Rocket in Support of Journey to Mars NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) -- the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars -- and approved the program's progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the space shuttle. We are on a journey of scientific and human exploration that leads to Mars, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. And we're firmly committed to building the launch vehicle and other supporting systems that will take us on that journey. For its first flight test, SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. In its most powerful configuration, SLS will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons), which will enable missions even farther into our solar system, including such destinations as an asteroid and Mars. This decision comes after a thorough review known as Key Decision Point C (KDP-C), which provides a development cost baseline for the 70-metric ton version of the SLS of $7.021 billion from February 2014 through the first launch and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no later than November 2018. Conservative cost and schedule commitments outlined in the KDP-C align the SLS program with program management best practices that account for potential technical risks and budgetary uncertainty beyond the program's control. Our nation is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, and we owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right, said Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who oversaw the review process. After rigorous review, we're committing today to a funding level and readiness date that will keep us on track to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s - and we're going to stand behind that commitment. The Space Launch System Program has done exemplary work during the past three years to get us to this point, said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. We will keep the teams working toward a more ambitious readiness date, but will be ready no later than November 2018. The SLS, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs each conduct a design review prior to each program's respective KDP-C, and each program will establish cost and schedule commitments that account for its individual technical requirements. We are keeping each part of the program -- the rocket, ground systems, and Orion -- moving at its best possible speed toward the first integrated test launch, said Bill Hill, director Exploration Systems Development at NASA. We are on a solid path toward an integrated mission and making progress in all three programs every day. Engineers have made significant technical progress on the rocket and have produced hardware for all elements of the SLS program, said SLS program manager Todd May. The team members deserve an enormous amount of credit for their dedication to building this national asset. The program delivered in April the first piece of flight hardware for Orion's maiden flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 targeted for December. This stage adapter is of the same design that will be used on SLS's first flight, Exploration Mission-1. Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has all major tools installed and is producing hardware, including the first pieces of flight hardware for SLS. Sixteen RS-25 engines, enough for four flights, currently are in inventory at Stennis Space Center, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where an engine is already installed and ready for testing this fall. NASA contractor ATK has conducted successful test firings of the five-segment solid rocket boosters and is preparing for the first qualification motor test. SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. In addition to opening new frontiers for explorers traveling aboard the Orion capsule, the SLS may also offer benefits for science missions that require its use and can't be flown on commercial rockets. The next phase of development for SLS is the Critical Design Review, a programmatic gate that reaffirms the agency's confidence in the program planning and technical risk posture. For more information about SLS, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/sls -end- Stephanie Schierholz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 stephanie.schierh...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Rosetta: Landing Site Search Narrows
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-289 Rosetta: Landing Site Search Narrows Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 25, 2014 The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission has chosen five candidate landing sites on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for its Philae lander. Philae's descent to the comet's nucleus, scheduled for this November, will be the first such landing ever attempted. Rosetta is an international mission spearheaded by the European Space Agency with support and instruments provided by NASA. Choosing the right landing site is a complex process. It must balance the technical needs of the orbiter and lander during all phases of the separation, descent and landing, and during operations on the surface, with the scientific requirements of the 10 instruments on board Philae. A key issue is that uncertainties in navigating the orbiter close to the comet mean that it is possible to specify any given landing zone only in terms of an ellipse - covering up to six-tenths of a square mile (one square kilometer) - within which Philae might land. This is the first time landing sites on a comet have been considered, said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Germany. The candidate sites that we want to follow up for further analysis are thought to be technically feasible on the basis of a preliminary analysis of flight dynamics and other key issues - for example, they all provide at least six hours of daylight per comet rotation and offer some flat terrain. Of course, every site has the potential for unique scientific discoveries. For each possible zone, important questions must be asked: Will the lander be able to maintain regular communications with Rosetta? How common are surface hazards such as large boulders, deep crevasses or steep slopes? Is there sufficient illumination for scientific operations and enough sunlight to recharge the lander's batteries beyond its initial 64-hour lifetime without causing overheating? The potential landing sites were assigned a letter from an original pre-selection of 10 possible sites, which does not signify any ranking. Three sites (B, I and J) are located on the smaller of the two lobes of the comet and two sites (A and C) are located on the larger lobe. The process of selecting a landing site is extremely complex and dynamic; as we get closer to the comet, we will see more and more details, which will influence the final decision on where and when we can land, said Fred Jansen, Rosetta's mission manager from the European Space Agency's Science and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. We had to complete our preliminary analysis on candidate sites very quickly after arriving at the comet, and now we have just a few more weeks to determine the primary site. The clock is ticking and we now have to meet the challenge to pick the best possible landing site. The next step in preparation for landing operations is a comprehensive analysis of each of the candidate sites, to determine possible orbital and operational strategies that could be used for Rosetta to deliver the lander to any of them. At the same time, Rosetta will move to within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the comet, allowing a more detailed study of the proposed landing sites. By September 14, the five candidate sites will have been assessed and ranked, leading to the selection of a primary landing site. A fully detailed strategy for the landing operations at the selected site will be developed, along with a backup. The landing of Philae is expected to take place in mid-November when the comet is about 280 million miles (450 million kilometers) from the sun. This will be before activity on the comet reaches levels that might jeopardize the safe and accurate deployment of Philae to the comet's surface, and before surface material is modified by this cometary activity. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives since arriving at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko earlier this month are to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and track its changes through 2015, as it sweeps past the sun. Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the sun and its planets formed. Rosetta's lander will obtain the first images taken from a comet's surface and will provide comprehensive analysis of the comet's possible primordial composition by drilling into the surface. Rosetta also will be the first spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation. Observations will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the role comets may have played in seeding Earth with water, and perhaps even life. The scientific
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 13-19, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Rover Suffers a Series of Resets This Week - sols 3752-3758, August 13, 2014-August 19, 2014: Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a putative location for abundant clay minerals. More recently, the incidence of Flash memory-induced resets has increased. The rover experienced resets on Sols 3754, 3757 and 3758 (Aug. 15, 18, and 19, 2014), which stops the onboard master sequence. Because of the project's vigilance and timely actions, the impact of the resets on rover science and exploration has been minimized. But the increase reset rate is compelling expedited corrective action to the Flash memory issue. On Sol 3752 (Aug. 13, 2014), Opportunity bumped just a few feet (over a meter) to a surface target, called 'Mt. Edgecumbe.' On the next sol, the robotic arm was used to collect a Microscopic Imager mosaic of the target, and then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the same for multi-sol integration. The reset on Sol 3754 (Aug. 15, 2014) cut short the integration to a single sol. On Sol 3757 (Aug. 18, 2014), another reset occurred, but real-time action from mission controllers reactivated the rover's sequence and Opportunity was able to complete the planned drive, achieving about 157 feet (48 meters). Another reset happened on Sol 3758 (Aug. 19, 2014), suspending the remote sensing observation on that sol. The plan ahead to resume rover activities, including driving, until the reset problem can be corrected. As of Sol 3758 (Aug. 19, 2014), the solar array energy production was 692 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.888 and a solar array dust factor of 0.788. Total odometry is 25.28 miles (40.69 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Team Chooses Not to Drill 'Bonanza King'
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-286 Mars Rover Team Chooses Not to Drill 'Bonanza King' Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 22, 2014 Evaluation of a pale, flat Martian rock as the potential next drilling target for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover determined that the rock was not stable enough for safe drilling. The rock, called Bonanza King, moved slightly during the mini-drill activity on Wednesday, at an early stage of this test, when the percussion drill impacted the rock a few times to make an indentation. Instead of drilling that or any similar rock nearby, the team has decided that Curiosity will resume driving toward its long-term destination on the slopes of a layered mountain. It will take a route skirting the north side of a sandy-floored valley where it turned around two weeks ago. We have decided that the rocks under consideration for drilling, based on the tests we did, are not good candidates for drilling, said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Instead of drilling here, we will resume driving toward Mount Sharp. After the rover team chooses a candidate drilling target, the target is subjected to several tests to check whether it meets criteria for collecting a drilled sample without undue risk to rover hardware. The mission's previous three drilling targets, all at more extensive outcrops, met those criteria. Bonanza King is on the northeastern end of Hidden Valley. Earlier this month, Curiosity began driving through the valley, but the rover slipped in the sand more than anticipated. After further analysis of the sand, Hidden Valley does not appear to be navigable with the desired degree of confidence, Erickson said. We will use a route avoiding the worst of the sharp rocks as we drive slightly to the north of Hidden Valley. The rover has driven about 5.5 miles (8.8 kilometers) since landing inside Gale Crater in August 2012, and has about 2 miles (3 kilometers) remaining to reach an entry point to the slopes of Mount Sharp, in the middle of the crater. The mission made important discoveries near its landing site during its first year by finding evidence of ancient lake and river environments. The rover's findings indicated that those environments would have provided favorable conditions for microbes to live. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project continues to use Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. The destinations on Mount Sharp offer a series of layers that recorded different chapters in the environmental evolution of early Mars. JPL, a division of Caltech, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-286 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 18-22, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES August 18-22, 2014 o Channel at Night (18 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140818a o Anio Valles (19 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140819452928a o Marte Vallis (20 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140820a o Galaxias Fossae (21 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140821a o Crater Dunes and Gullies (22 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140822a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Curiosity's Brushwork on Martian 'Bonanza King' Target
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia18602 Curiosity's Brushwork on Martian 'Bonanza King' Target NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Dust Removal Tool on its robotic arm to brush aside reddish, more-oxidized dust, revealing a gray patch of less-oxidized rock material at a target called Bonanza King, visible in this image from the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens, took this image on Aug. 17, 2014, during the 722nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The brushing activity occurred earlier the same sol. The rover team is evaluating Bonanza King as a possible drilling target. The mission has previously drilled into three target rocks to collect sample powder for analysis by the rover's onboard laboratory instruments. The brushed area is about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) across. It reveals thin, white, cross-cutting veins. They might be sulfate salts or another type of mineral that precipitated out of solution and filled fractures in the rock. These thin veins might be related to wider light-toned veins and features in the surrounding rock. To the left of the brushed patch is a row of five smaller and less conspicuous spots where dust has been partially removed. These are at points on Bonanza King that were zapped with the laser of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on Sol 719 (Aug. 14, 2014). Color balancing and contrast adjustment have been used in preparing this image from Mastcam's raw image of this exposure. Drilling a shallow test hole is the next step in evaluating this location for full-depth drilling to collect a sample. The shallow mini-drill test enables assessing whether powder from the drilling tends to clump. Bonanza King is on a ramp rising from the northeastern end of Hidden Valley, between Curiosity's August 2012 landing site in Gale Crater and destinations on Mount Sharp within the crater. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. Image details ID#: PIA18602 http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18602 Date added: 2014-08-18 Target: Mars Mission: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Spacecraft: Curiosity Instruments: Mastcam Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Conference on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors 2015
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/astrorecon/ Conference on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors 2015 January 8-10, 2015 Tempe, Arizona The Conference on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors 2015 (ASTRORECON) is a follow-on to the highly successful Workshop on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors in 2006, which led to a special volume of Meteoritics Planetary Science. The goal of the Conference on Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors 2015 is to identify and evaluate the best technologies for spacecraft robotic reconnaissance of comets, asteroids, and small moons, paving the way for advanced science missions, near-Earth asteroid redirection, hazard mitigation, in situ resource utilization, and human visitation. The conference will convene immediately after SBAG12, which will be held January 6â7, 2015, in the Tempe/Phoenix area. Conveners are Erik Asphaug and Jekan Thanga. More information, including details about the venue and schedule, will be available soon. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: August 6-12, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Ground Control Restored Quickly After Reset - sols 3745-3751, August 06, 2014-August 12, 2014: Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards Marathon Valley, a putative location for abundant clay minerals. On Sol 3746 (Aug. 7, 2014), the rover began with a Phobos moon transit observation, then a 236-foot (72-meter) drive south towards a formation, called Wdowiak Ridge. On the evening of that sol, Opportunity experienced a Flash-induced reset that stopped all sequences, but otherwise left the rover in good health. At the start of the next plan, the project commanded a real-time activate for Opportunity to restore sequence control and to execute the next plan, a 2-sol touch 'n go. On Sol 3748 (Aug. 9, 2014), Opportunity used the robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager mosaic of a target of opportunity called Icy Straight. This was followed by the placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer on the same surface target for a multi-hour integration (the touch). Then, on Sol 3749 (Aug. 10, 2014), the rover drove over 328 feet (100 meters) (the go), including some mid-drive imaging. Keeping up the pace, the rover continued driving south towards Wdowiak Ridge on the next two sols with drives of 183 feet and 108 feet (56 meters and 33 meters), respectively. As of Sol 3751 (Aug. 12, 2014), the solar array energy production was 679 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.811 and a solar array dust factor of 0.789. Total odometry is 25.25 (40.63 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 11-15, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES August 11-15, 2014 o Ascraeus Mons (11 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140811a o Polar Dunes (12 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140812a o Olympia Undae (13 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140813a o More Polar Dunes (14 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140814a o Polar Layers(15 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140815a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Curiosity Mars Rover Prepares for Fourth Rock Drilling
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-279 Curiosity Mars Rover Prepares for Fourth Rock Drilling Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 15, 2014 The team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has chosen a rock that looks like a pale paving stone as the mission's fourth drilling target, if it passes engineers' evaluation. They call it Bonanza King. It is not at the Pahrump Hills site the team anticipated the rover might reach by mid-August. Unexpected challenges while driving in sand prompted the mission to reverse course last week after entering a valley where ripples of sand fill the floor and extend onto sloping margins. However, the new target outcrop's brightness and its position within the area's geological layers resemble the Pahrump Hills outcrop. Geologically speaking, we can tie the Bonanza King rocks to those at Pahrump Hills. Studying them here will give us a head start in understanding how they fit into the bigger picture of Gale Crater and Mount Sharp, said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Mount Sharp is the mission's long-term science destination, offering a stack of layers holding evidence about environmental changes on ancient Mars. The mountain rises from inside Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed in August 2012. All three rocks the rover has drilled so far have been geologically associated with the crater floor, rather than the mountain. Sample material pulled from the first two and delivered to Curiosity's onboard analytical laboratories in 2013 provided evidence for ancient environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. A drilled sample from Bonanza King may add understanding about how environments varied and evolved. This rock has an appearance quite different from the sandstones we've been driving through for several months, Vasavada said. The landscape is changing, and that's worth checking out. It lies in one of several patches of similar-looking slabs, up to about the size of dinner plates, on the ramp at the northeastern end of sandy-floored Hidden Valley. Curiosity passed over them early last week when it entered the valley, headed toward Pahrump Hills and, beyond that, toward the planned entry point to Mount Sharp's slopes. The rover's wheels slipped more in Hidden Valley's sand than the team had expected based on experience with one of the mission's test rovers driven on sand dunes in California. The valley is about the length of a football field and does not offer any navigable exits other than at the northeastern and southwestern ends. We need to gain a better understanding of the interaction between the wheels and Martian sand ripples, and Hidden Valley is not a good location for experimenting, said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of JPL. Terrain with sharp rocks that Curiosity has previously navigated tore holes in the rover's wheels. Sandy terrain could still be part of the rover's route to Mount Sharp. Compared to sharp-rock terrain, sandy ground could reduce the pace of wheel damage. In some sandy areas, ripples don't cover the ground deeply wall-to-wall, as they do in Hidden Valley. Curiosity reversed course and drove out of Hidden Valley northeastward. On the way toward gaining a good viewpoint to assess a possible alternative route north of the valley, it passed over the pale paving stones on the ramp again. Where a rover wheel cracked one of the rocks, it exposed bright interior material, possibly from mineral veins. This summer, Curiosity's team has developed a plan for compressing the multi-day schedule of rover activities involved in collecting a drilled rock sample and delivering the sample for onboard analysis. This condensed drilling plan requires adjustment of staffing levels for several days, due to the complexity of the rover activities involved. The needed staffing had been slated for mid-August in anticipation of getting to Pahrump Hills. We considered postponing the first condensed drilling, and we considered other possible drilling targets, but this outcrop on the ramp is too appealing to pass up, Vasavada said. One step in assessing whether Bonanza King can be drilled will be to check whether the individual plates of the outcrop are loose. During the drilling campaign, the team will also be analyzing possible routes to Mount Sharp and planning how to better understand how the rover's wheels interact with Martian sand ripples. JPL, a division of Caltech, built Curiosity and manages Mars rover projects for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
[meteorite-list] As Seen by Rosetta: Comet Surface Variations
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-280 As Seen by Rosetta: Comet Surface Variations Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 15, 2014 A new image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko shows the diversity of surface structures on the comet's nucleus. It was taken by the Rosetta spacecraft's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on August 7, 2014. At the time, the spacecraft was 65 miles (104 kilometers) away from the 2.5-mile-wide (4-kilometer) nucleus. In the image, the comet's head (in the top half of the image) exhibits parallel linear features that resemble cliffs, and its neck displays scattered boulders on a relatively smooth, slumping surface. In comparison, the comet's body (lower half of the image) seems to exhibit a multi-variable terrain with peaks and valleys, and both smooth and rough topographic features. A 3-D version of the image depicting the comet is available at: http://go.nasa.gov/1t3K3FU Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives are to study comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and track its changes as it sweeps past the sun. Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the sun and its planets formed. Rosetta's lander will obtain the first images taken from a comet's surface and will provide the first analysis of a comet's composition by drilling into the surface. Rosetta also will be the first spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation. Observations will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system, and the role comets may have played in seeding Earth with water. The scientific imaging system, OSIRIS, was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with Center of Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padua (Italy), the Astrophysical Laboratory of Marseille (France), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (Netherlands), the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (Spain), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain, and Sweden and the ESA Technical Directorate. Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; French National Space Agency, Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California 818-393-9011 a...@jpl.nasa.gov J.D. Harrington NASA Headquarters 202-358-5241 j.d.harring...@nasa.gov Markus Bauer European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands 011-31-71-565-6799 markus.ba...@esa.int 2014-280 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Stardust Team Reports Discovery of First Potential Interstellar Space Particles
August 14, 2014 Stardust Team Reports Discovery of First Potential Interstellar Space Particles Seven rare, microscopic interstellar dust particles that date to the beginnings of the solar system are among the samples collected by scientists who have been studying the payload from NASA's Stardust spacecraft since its return to Earth in 2006. If confirmed, these particles would be the first samples of contemporary interstellar dust. A team of scientists has been combing through the spacecraft's aerogel and aluminum foil dust collectors since Stardust returned in 2006.The seven particles probably came from outside our solar system, perhaps created in a supernova explosion millions of years ago and altered by exposure to the extreme space environment. The research report appears in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal Science. Twelve other papers about the particles will appear next week in the journal Meteoritics Planetary Science. These are the most challenging objects we will ever have in the lab for study, and it is a triumph that we have made as much progress in their analysis as we have, said Michael Zolensky, curator of the Stardust laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and coauthor of the Science paper. Stardust was launched in 1999 and returned to Earth on Jan. 15, 2006, at the Utah Test and Training Range, 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The Stardust Sample Return Canister was transported to a curatorial facility at Johnson where the Stardust collectors remain preserved and protected for scientific study. Inside the canister, a tennis racket-like sample collector tray captured the particles in silica aerogel as the spacecraft flew within 149 miles of a comet in January 2004. An opposite side of the tray holds interstellar dust particles captured by the spacecraft during its seven-year, three-billion-mile journey. Scientists caution that additional tests must be done before they can say definitively that these are pieces of debris from interstellar space. But if they are, the particles could help explain the origin and evolution of interstellar dust. The particles are much more diverse in terms of chemical composition and structure than scientists expected. The smaller particles differ greatly from the larger ones and appear to have varying histories. Many of the larger particles have been described as having a fluffy structure, similar to a snowflake. Two particles, each only about two microns (thousandths of a millimeter) in diameter, were isolated after their tracks were discovered by a group of citizen scientists. These volunteers, who call themselves Dusters, scanned more than a million images as part of a University of California, Berkeley, citizen-science project, which proved critical to finding these needles in a haystack. A third track, following the direction of the wind during flight, was left by a particle that apparently was moving so fast -- more than 10 miles per second (15 kilometers per second) -- that it vaporized. Volunteers identified tracks left by another 29 particles that were determined to have been kicked out of the spacecraft into the collectors. Four of the particles reported in Science were found in aluminum foils between tiles on the collector tray. Although the foils were not originally planned as dust collection surfaces, an international team led by physicist Rhonda Stroud of the Naval Research Laboratory searched the foils and identified four pits lined with material composed of elements that fit the profile of interstellar dust particles. Three of these four particles, just a few tenths of a micron across, contained sulfur compounds, which some astronomers have argued do not occur in interstellar dust. A preliminary examination team plans to continue analysis of the remaining 95 percent of the foils to possibly find enough particles to understand the variety and origins of interstellar dust. Supernovas, red giants and other evolved stars produce interstellar dust and generate heavy elements like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen necessary for life. Two particles, dubbed Orion and Hylabrook, will undergo further tests to determine their oxygen isotope quantities, which could provide even stronger evidence for their extrasolar origin. Scientists at Johnson have scanned half the panels at various depths and turned these scans into movies, which were then posted online, where the Dusters could access the footage to search for particle tracks. Once several Dusters tag a likely track, Andrew Westphal, lead author of the Science article, and his team verify the identifications. In the one million frames scanned so far, each a half-millimeter square, Dusters have found 69 tracks, while Westphal has found two. Thirty-one of these were extracted along with surrounding aerogel by scientists at Johnson and shipped to UC Berkeley to be analyzed. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
[meteorite-list] Tall Boulder Rolls Down Martian Hill, Lands Upright (MRO)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-275 Tall Boulder Rolls Down Martian Hill, Lands Upright Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 13, 2014 A track about one-third of a mile (500 meters) long on Mars shows where an irregularly shaped boulder careened downhill to its current upright position, seen in a July 3, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18594 The shadow cast by the rock in mid-afternoon sunlight reveals it is about 20 feet (6 meters) tall. In the downward-looking image, the boulder is only about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide. It happened to come to rest with its long dimension vertical. The trail it left on the slope has a pattern that suggests the boulder couldn't roll smoothly or straight due to its shape. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. HiRISE, one of six science instruments on the orbiter, is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been studying Mars from orbit since 2006, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro For more information about HiRISE, visit: http://www.uahirise.org/ Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-275 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MRO HiRISE Images: August 13, 2014
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES August 13, 2014 o Glaciation at the Eastern Hellas Margin http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_036947_1390 Hellas Crater in the ancient highlands contains some of the clearest evidence on Mars for glacial processes. o The Side of Chasma Boreale http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037056_2650 Comparing images like this to those taken in previous years and in different seasons allows a more accurate understanding of current surface processes on the Red Planet. o An Irregular, Upright Boulder http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037190_1765 The trail has a odd repeating pattern, as if the boulder couldn't roll straight due to its shape. o Strange Cones and Flows http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037222_1820 The shapes of these regions are unusual, and the association with cones suggest that the cones were source vents for local lava flows. All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Colliding Atmospheres: Mars vs Comet Siding Spring
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/12aug_marscomet/ Colliding Atmospheres: Mars vs Comet Siding Spring NASA Science News August 12, 2014 On October 19, 2014, Comet Siding Spring will pass by Mars only 132,000 km away--which would be like a comet passing about 1/3 of the distance between Earth and the Moon. The nucleus of the comet won't hit Mars, but there could be a different kind of collision. We hope to witness two atmospheres colliding, explains David Brain of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). This is a once in a lifetime event! Everyone knows that planets have atmospheres. Lesser known is that comets do, too. The atmosphere of a comet, called its coma, is made of gas and dust that spew out of the sun-warmed nucleus. The atmosphere of a typical comet is wider than Jupiter. It is possible, says Brain, that the atmosphere of the comet will interact with the atmosphere of Mars. This could lead to some remarkable effects - including Martian auroras. The timing could scarcely be better. Just last year, NASA launched a spacecraft named MAVEN to study the upper atmosphere of Mars, and it will be arriving in Sept. 2014 barely a month before the comet. MAVEN is on a mission to solve a longstanding mystery: What happened to the atmosphere of Mars? Billions of years ago, Mars had a substantial atmosphere that blanketed the planet, keeping Mars warm and sustaining liquid water on its surface. Today, only a wispy shroud of CO2 remains, and the planet below is colder and dryer than any desert on Earth. Theories for this planetary catastrophe center on erosion of the atmosphere by solar wind. The goal of the MAVEN mission is to understand how external stimuli affect the atmosphere of Mars, says Bruce Jakosky of LASP, MAVEN's principal investigator. Of course, when we planned the mission, we were thinking about the sun and the solar wind. But Comet Siding Spring represents an opportunity to observe a natural experiment, in which a perturbation is applied and we can see the response. Brain, who is a member of the MAVEN science team, thinks the comet could spark Martian auroras. Unlike Earth, which has a global magnetic field that shields our entire planet, Mars has a patchwork of magnetic umbrellas that sprout out of the surface in hundreds of places all around the planet. If Martian auroras occur, they would appear in the canopies of these magnetic umbrellas. That is one thing that we will be looking for with both MAVEN and Hubble Space Telescope, says Brain. Any auroras we see will not only be neat, but also very useful as a diagnostic tool for how the comet and the Martian atmosphere have interacted. The atmosphere of the comet includes not only streamers of gas, but also dust and other debris blowing off the nucleus at 56 kilometers per second relative to Mars. At that velocity, even particles as small as half a millimeter across could damage spacecraft. NASA's fleet of Mars orbiters including MAVEN, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will maneuver to put the body of Mars between themselves and the comet's debris during the dustiest part of the encounter. It's not yet clear whether /any/ significant dust or gas will hit the Mars atmosphere, cautions Jakosky. But if it does, it would have the greatest effects on the upper atmosphere. Meteoroids disintegrating would deposit heat and temporarily alter the chemistry of upper air layers. The mixing of cometary and Martian gases could have further unpredictable effects. Although MAVEN, having just arrived at Mars, will still be in a commissioning phase, it will use its full suite of instruments to monitor the Martian atmosphere for changes. By observing both before and after, we hope to determine what effects the comet dust and gas have on Mars, if any, says Jakosky. Whatever happens, MAVEN will have a ringside seat. Credits: Author: Dr. Tony Phillips Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips Credit: Science@NASA __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Departure of U.S. Cargo Ship to Air on NASA Television
August 12, 2014 Departure of U.S. Cargo Ship to Air on NASA Television After delivering almost three tons of supplies and scientific experiments to the crew of the International Space Station, Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the SS Janice Voss, is scheduled to leave the station Friday, Aug. 15. NASA Television will provide live coverage of departure activities beginning at 6:15 a.m. EDT. Ground controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will detach Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module and maneuver it into release position. With the assistance of NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman, Expedition 40 Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency then will use the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, operated from the station's cupola robotics workstation, to release Cygnus. Once the spacecraft is a safe distance from the station, its engines will fire twice Sunday, Aug. 17, pushing it into Earth's atmosphere where it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean. Station crew members may have an opportunity to photograph Cygnus' fiery reentry back to Earth in order to gather engineering data that could be applied to the entry path of the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship in January 2015. The deorbit burn and reentry of Cygnus will not be broadcast on NASA TV. Cygnus was launched on an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket from NASA's Wallop's Flight Facility in Virginia July 12 on the company's second commercial resupply mission to the station, arriving at the orbiting laboratory July 16. For more information about the spacecraft's mission and the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station For video b-roll and media resources on the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/stationnews -end- Joshua Buck Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 jb...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 4-8, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES August 4-8, 2014 o Dark Dunes (4 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140804a o Ceraunius Tholus (5 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140805a o Polar Dunes (6 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140806a o Uranius Tholus (7 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140807a o Polar Dunes (8 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140808a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 23-30, 2014
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Holds the Off-Earth Driving Distance Record
- sols 3731-3738, July 23, 2014-July 30, 2014:
Opportunity has driven more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) and is now the
off-Earth driving distance record holder!
Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading
towards 'Marathon Valley.' This valley has been observed from orbit to
have an abundant clay mineral signature.
On Sol 3732 (July 24, 2014) the rover continued south with a 236 feet
(72-meter) drive, collecting Panoramic Camera (Pancam) images before,
during and after the drive along with a post-drive Navigation Camera (Navcam)
panorama. On the following sol, Opportunity collected an InSIGHT atmospheric
opacity (tau) measurement. On Sol 3734 (July 26, 2014), the rover began
the first sol of a two-sol 'touch go'. On the first sol, Opportunity
collected a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface target 'Rosebud
Canyon,' then placed the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer on the same
for a multi-hour integration ('the Touch'). On the second sol, the rover
drove south over 157 feet (48 meters) ('The Go'). With that drive, Opportunity
crossed the 25-mile mark of distance on the surface. The rover has established
herself as the record holder for the longest distance driven off the Earth.
On Sol 3737 (July 29, 2014), the science team chose to return to an interesting
target about 30 meters to the north for further investigation and documentation.
As of Sol 3738 (July 30, 2014), the solar array energy production was
686 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.804 and a solar
array dust factor of 0.813.
Total odometry is 25.03 miles (40.28 kilometers).
__
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[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 31 - August 5, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Heads to 'Marathon Valley' - sols 3739-3744, July 31, 2014-August 05, 2014: Opportunity is moving south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards 'Marathon Valley,' a notch observed from orbit to have an abundant clay mineral signature. On Sol 3739 (July 31, 2014), the rover made an approach to a surface target of interest with a 26-feet (8-meter) drive. At the end of the sol, Opportunity collected some Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imagery and performed an atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). On Sol 3741 (Aug. 2, 2014), the rover began two sols of in-situ (contact) science using the robotic arm instruments. On the first sol Opportunity collected a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the target 'Fairweather,' and then placed the APXS for a multi-hour integration. On the next sol, the observations were repeated on a second, offset target. With the in-situ work complete, the rover headed south again on Sol 3744 (Aug. 5, 2014), driving over 282 feet (86 meters). The drive was followed with the usual post-drive Navigation Camera (Navcam) and Pancam panoramas to support the next drive. As of Sol 3744 (Aug. 5, 2014), the solar array energy production was 686 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.872 and a solar array dust factor of 0.802. Total odometry is 25.09 miles (40.38 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Selects Proposals for Advanced Energy Storage Systems
August 7, 2014 NASA Selects Proposals for Advanced Energy Storage Systems NASA has selected four proposals for advanced energy storage technologies that may be used to power the agency's future space missions. Development of these new energy storage devices will help enable NASA's future robotic and human-exploration missions and aligns with conclusions presented in the National Research Council's NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities, which calls for improved energy generation and storage with reliable power systems that can survive the wide range of environments unique to NASA missions. NASA believes these awards will lead to such energy breakthroughs. NASA's advanced space technology development doesn't stop with hardware and instruments for spacecraft, said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. New energy storage technology will be critical to our future exploration of deep space -- whether missions to an asteroid, Mars or beyond. That's why we're investing in this critical mission technology area. Managed by the Game Changing Development Program within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, the four selected technology proposals are: -- Silicon Anode Based Cells for High Specific Energy Systems, submitted by Amprius, Inc, in Sunnyvale, California -- High Energy Density and Long-Life Li-S Batteries for Aerospace Applications, submitted by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena -- Advanced High Energy Rechargeable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, submitted by Indiana University in Bloomington -- Garnet Electrolyte Based Safe, Lithium-Sulfur Energy Storage, submitted by the University of Maryland, College Park Phase I awards are approximately $250,000 and provide funding to conduct an eight-month component test and analysis phase. Phase II is an engineering development unit hardware phase that provides as much as $1 million per award for one year, while Phase III consists of the prototype hardware development, as much as $2 million per award for 18 months. Proposals for this solicitation were submitted by NASA centers, federally funded research and development centers, universities and industry. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, manages the Game Changing Development program for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA is working closely with the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) and other partners to propel the development of energy storage technology solutions for future human and robotic exploration missions. Committed to developing the critical technologies needed for deep space exploration, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate will make significant investments over the next 18 months to address several high-priority challenges in achieving this goal. http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech -end- David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730 david.ste...@nasa.gov Chris Rink Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. 757-864-6786 chris.r...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Rosetta Arrives at Comet Destination
Presse Release N23-2014 Paris, 6 August 2014 Rosetta arrives at comet destination After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA's Rosetta has today become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new chapter in Solar System exploration. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Rosetta now lie 405 million kilometres from Earth, about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55 000 kilometres per hour. The comet is in an elliptical 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond Jupiter at its furthest point, to between the orbits of Mars and Earth at its closest to the Sun. Rosetta will accompany it for over a year as they swing around the Sun and back out towards Jupiter again. Comets are considered to be primitive building blocks of the Solar System and may have helped to 'seed' Earth with water, perhaps even the ingredients for life. But many fundamental questions about these enigmatic objects remain, and through a comprehensive, in situ study of the comet, Rosetta aims to unlock the secrets within. The journey to the comet was not straightforward. Since its launch in 2004, Rosetta had to make three gravity-assist flybys of Earth and one of Mars to help it on course to its rendezvous with the comet. This complex course also allowed Rosetta to pass by asteroids ?teins and Lutetia, obtaining unprecedented views and scientific data on these two objects. After ten years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometres, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here', says Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's Director General. Europe's Rosetta is now the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major highlight in exploring our origins. The discoveries can begin. Today saw the last of a series of ten rendezvous manoeuvres that began in May to adjust Rosetta's speed and trajectory gradually to match those of the comet. If any of these manoeuvres had failed, the mission would have been lost, and the spacecraft would simply have flown by the comet. Today's achievement is a result of a huge international endeavour spanning several decades, says Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration. We have come an extraordinarily long way since the mission concept was first discussed in the late 1970s and approved in 1993, and now we are ready to open a treasure chest of scientific discovery that is destined to rewrite the textbooks on comets for even more decades to come. The comet began to reveal its personality while Rosetta was on its approach. Images taken by the OSIRIS camera between late April and early June showed that its activity was variable. The comet's 'coma' - an extended envelope of gas and dust - became rapidly brighter and then died down again over the course of those six weeks. In the same period, first measurements from the Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter, MIRO, suggested that the comet was emitting water vapour into space at about 300 millilitres per second. Meanwhile, the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS, measured the comet's average temperature to be about -70ºC, indicating that the surface is predominantly dark and dusty rather than clean and icy. Then, stunning images taken from a distance of about 12 000 km began to reveal that the nucleus comprises two distinct segments joined by a 'neck', giving it a duck-like appearance. Subsequent images showed more and more detail - the most recent, highest-resolution image was downloaded from the spacecraft earlier today and will be available this afternoon. Our first clear views of the comet have given us plenty to think about, says Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta project scientist. Is this double-lobed structure built from two separate comets that came together in the Solar System's history, or is it one comet that has eroded dramatically and asymmetrically over time? Rosetta, by design, is in the best place to study one of these unique objects. Today, Rosetta is just 100 km from the comet's surface, but it will edge closer still. Over the next six weeks, it will describe two triangular-shaped trajectories in front of the comet, first at a distance of 100 km and then at 50 km. At the same time, more of the suite of instruments will provide a detailed scientific study of the comet, scrutinising the surface for a target site for the Philae lander. Eventually, Rosetta will attempt a close, near-circular orbit at 30 km and, depending on the activity of the comet, perhaps come even closer. Arriving at the comet is really only just the beginning of an even bigger adventure, with greater challenges still to come as we learn how to operate in this unchartered environment, start to orbit and, eventually, land, says Sylvain Lodiot, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey Completes Maneuver to Prepare for Comet Flyby
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-266 Orbiter Completes Maneuver to Prepare for Comet Flyby Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 06, 2014 Mars Odyssey Mission Status Report NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted the timing of its orbit around Mars as a defensive precaution for a comet's close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. The orbiter fired thrusters for five and a half seconds on Tuesday, Aug. 5. The maneuver was calculated to place the orbiter behind Mars during the half hour on the flyby date when dust particles released from comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring are most likely to reach Mars. The nucleus of the comet will miss Mars by about one-third of the distance between Earth and Earth's moon. The modeling predictions for comet Siding Spring suggest a dust-particle impact would not be likely in any case, but this maneuver has given us an added protection, said Mars Odyssey Project Manager David Lehman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Those dust particles will be traveling so fast that even one hit could end our mission. The Tuesday maneuver did not change the shape of Odyssey's orbit, but tweaked the timing. The spacecraft is in a near-polar orbit, circling Mars about once every two hours. The maneuver used four trajectory-correction thrusters, which each provide about 5 pounds (22 newtons) of force. It consumed less than one percent of the orbiter's remaining fuel. Mars Odyssey has worked at the Red Planet longer than any other Mars mission in history. NASA launched the spacecraft on April 7, 2001, and Odyssey arrived at Mars Oct. 24, 2001. Besides conducting its own scientific observations, the mission provides a communication relay for robots on the Martian surface. Odyssey is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on operating the spacecraft. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey For more about comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov 2014-266 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] The Future is Now: Innovative Advanced Concepts Selected for Continued Study
August 6, 2014 The Future is Now: Innovative Advanced Concepts Selected for Continued Study Looking ahead to an exciting future, NASA is continuing to invest in concepts that may one day revolutionize how we live and work in space with the selection of five technology proposals for continued study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, located at the agency's headquarters in Washington, based the NIAC Phase II selections on their potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities, or significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems. The proposals chosen for continued study address a range of visionary concepts, from novel space optics using an orbiting cloud of dust-like objects, to pioneering spacecraft-rover hybrids for exploration of low-gravity asteroids. Technology drives our futures in exploration, science and commercial space; and investments in these advanced concepts must be made to ensure we will have the spectrum of capabilities for the near term and well into the 21st century, said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is creating the technologies needed for today, while also investing in the concepts that will become technological realities of tomorrow. These concepts, anchored to sound science, but rich in 'what if' creativity, will make our science, exploration and commercial space futures possible. The five studies chosen to advance to Phase II of the NIAC program include: -- A concept for a 10-meter, sub-orbital large balloon reflector that might be used as a telescope inside a high-altitude balloon. The concept uses part of the balloon itself as a reflector for the telescope. The principal investigator is C.K. Walker of the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson. -- A spacecraft-rover hybrid concept for the exploration of small solar system bodies. The small spacecraft would be deployed from a mothership onto the surface of a low-gravity object, such as an asteroid or planetary moon. The machines, ranging in size from a centimeter to a meter, would use spinning flywheels to allow the robotic explorers to tumble and hop across the surface of a new frontier. The principal investigator is Marco Pavone of Stanford University in California. -- A concept for deep mapping of small solar system bodies, such as asteroids, using subatomic particles to map the interior and small surface features. These data could be used to better characterize asteroids and gather data about potential resources that could be mined or otherwise used by explorers. The principal investigator is T.H. Prettyman of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson. -- A concept for a low-mass planar photonic imaging sensor, an innovative sensor and spectrometer design to replace traditional, bulkier telescopes. This concept may provide a higher-resolution, persistent imaging capability for outer planetary missions while reducing costs and development time because no large optics are required. The principal investigator is S.J. Ben Yoo at the University of California, Davis. -- A granular media imager concept called Orbiting Rainbows would use an orbiting cloud of dust-like matter as the primary element for an ultra-large space aperture -- the space through which light passes during an optical or photographic measurement -- that could potentially be used to image distant astronomical objects at extremely high resolution. The principal investigator is Marco Quadrelli of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. NASA selected these projects through a peer-review process that evaluated innovativeness and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development -- most being 10 or more years away from use on a NASA mission. This was an extremely competitive year for NIAC Phase II candidates, said Jay Falker, NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters. But the independent peer review process helped identify those that could be the most transformative, with outstanding potential for future science and exploration. NIAC Phase II awards can be as much as $500,000 for two years, and allow proposers to further develop the most successful concepts from previously selected Phase I studies. Phase I studies must demonstrate the initial feasibility and benefit of a concept. Phase II studies go to the next level, refining designs and exploring aspects of implementing the new technology. Through programs like NIAC, NASA is demonstrating that early investments and partnerships with creative scientists, engineers, and citizen inventors from across the nation can provide technological dividends and help maintain America's leadership in the new global technology economy. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is
[meteorite-list] NASA Holds Briefing on Early Test Results for New Planetary Landing Technology
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-263 NASA Holds Briefing on Early Test Results for New Planetary Landing Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 05, 2014 NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project successfully flew a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space in late June from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. Media are invited to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, at 9 a.m. PDT (noon EDT) Friday, August 8, to see new video from this test and hear about early results from the mission. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. The LDSD cross-cutting demonstration mission tested breakthrough technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars and allow access to more of the planet's surface by enabling landings at higher altitude sites. Participants in Friday's briefing are: -- Jeff Sheehy, senior technologist with the Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington -- Mark Adler, project manager, LDSD, JPL -- Ian Clark, principal investigator, LDSD, JPL More material about the LDSD space technology demonstration mission is online at: http://go.usa.gov/N5zm For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv The event will also be carried live on Ustream at: http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL2 The LDSD project is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use on future NASA missions. Over the next 18 months, the directorate will make significant new investments to address several high-priority challenges in achieving safe and affordable deep space exploration. These focused technology areas are tightly aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps, the Space Technology Investment Plan and National Research Council recommendations. For more information about the directorate, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-9011 a...@jpl.nasa.gov David Steitz NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730 david.ste...@nasa.gov 2014-263 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-262 NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: Two Years and Counting on Red Planet Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 05, 2014 NASA's most advanced roving laboratory on Mars celebrates its second anniversary since landing inside the Red Planet's Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (Aug. 6, 2012, EDT). During its first year of operations, the Curiosity rover fulfilled its major science goal of determining whether Mars ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. Clay-bearing sedimentary rocks on the crater floor in an area called Yellowknife Bay yielded evidence of a lakebed environment billions of years ago that offered fresh water, all of the key elemental ingredients for life, and a chemical source of energy for microbes, if any existed there. Before landing, we expected that we would need to drive much farther before answering that habitability question, said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. We were able to take advantage of landing very close to an ancient streambed and lake. Now we want to learn more about how environmental conditions on Mars evolved, and we know where to go to do that. During its second year, Curiosity has been driving toward long-term science destinations on lower slopes of Mount Sharp. Those destinations are in an area beginning about 2 miles (3 kilometers) southwest of the rover's current location, but an appetizer outcrop of a base layer of the mountain lies much closer -- less than one-third of a mile (500 meters) from Curiosity. The rover team is calling the outcrop Pahrump Hills. For about half of July, the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, drove Curiosity across an area of hazardous sharp rocks on Mars called Zabriskie Plateau. Damage to Curiosity's aluminum wheels from driving across similar terrain last year prompted a change in route, with the plan of skirting such rock-studded terrain wherever feasible. The one-eighth mile (200 meters) across Zabriskie Plateau was one of the longest stretches without a suitable detour on the redesigned route toward the long-term science destination. Another recent challenge appeared last week in the form of unexpected behavior by an onboard computer currently serving as backup. Curiosity carries duplicate main computers. It has been operating on its B-side computer since a problem with the A-side computer prompted the team to command a side swap in February 2013. Work in subsequent weeks of 2013 restored availability of the A-side as a backup in case of B-side trouble. In July, fresh commanding of the rover was suspended for two days while engineers confirmed that the A-side computer remains reliable as a backup. To help prepare for future human missions to Mars, Curiosity incudes a radiation detector to measure the environment astronauts will encounter on a round-trip between Earth and the Martian surface. The data are consistent with earlier predictions and will help NASA scientists and engineers develop new technologies to protect astronauts in deep space. In 2016, a Mars lander mission called InSight will launch to take the first look into the deep interior of Mars. The agency also is participating in the European Space Agency's (ESA's) 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions, including providing Electra telecommunication radios to ESA's 2016 orbiter and a critical element of the astrobiology instrument on the 2018 ExoMars rover. Additionally, NASA recently announced that its next rover going to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully selected instruments to conduct unprecedented investigations in science and technology, as well as capabilities needed for humans to pioneer the Red Planet. Based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, the new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life. Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will be stored for potential return to Earth by a future mission. The Mars 2020 mission is responsive to the science objectives recommended by the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. The Mars 2020 rover will help further advance our knowledge of how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the Martian land would transform future exploration of the planet. Designers of future human expeditions can use this mission to understand the hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen
[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Nears Mountain-Base Outcrop
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-257 NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Nears Mountain-Base Outcrop Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 01, 2014 As it approaches the second anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover is also approaching its first close look at bedrock that is part of Mount Sharp, the layered mountain in the middle of Mars' Gale Crater. The mission made important discoveries during its first year by finding evidence of ancient lake and river environments. During its second year, it has been driving toward long-term science destinations on lower slopes of Mount Sharp. Those destinations are in an area beginning about 2 miles (3 kilometers) southwest of the rover's current location, but an appetizer outcrop of a base layer of the mountain lies much closer -- less than one-third of a mile (500 meters) from Curiosity. The rover team is calling the outcrop Pahrump Hills. We're coming to our first taste of a geological unit that's part of the base of the mountain rather than the floor of the crater, said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. We will cross a major terrain boundary. For about half of July, the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, drove Curiosity across an area of hazardously sharp rocks called Zabriskie Plateau. Damage to Curiosity's aluminum wheels from driving across similar terrain last year prompted a change in route planning to skirt such rock-studded terrain wherever feasible. The one-eighth mile (200 meters) across Zabriski Plateau was one of the longest stretches without a suitable detour on the redesigned route toward the long-term science destination. The wheels took some damage getting across Zabriskie Plateau, but it's less than I expected from the amount of hard, sharp rocks embedded there, said JPL's Jim Erickson, project manager for Curiosity. The rover drivers showed that they're up to the task of getting around the really bad rocks. There will still be rough patches ahead. We didn't imagine prior to landing that we would see this kind of challenge to the vehicle, but we're handling it. Another recent challenge appeared last week in the form of unexpected behavior by an onboard computer currently serving as backup. Curiosity carries duplicate main computers. It has been operating on its B-side computer since a problem with the A-side computer prompted the team to command a side swap in February 2013. Work in subsequent weeks of 2013 restored availability of the A-side as a backup in case of B-side trouble. Last week, fresh commanding of the rover was suspended for two days while engineers confirmed that the A-side computer remains reliable as a backup. Curiosity landed inside Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (Aug. 6, 2012, EDT). During its first year of operations, it fulfilled its major science goal of determining whether Mars ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. Clay-bearing sedimentary rocks on the crater floor in an area called Yellowknife Bay yielded evidence of a lakebed environment billions of years ago that offered fresh water, all of the key elemental ingredients for life, and a chemical source of energy for microbes, if any existed there. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project continues to use Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. The destinations on Mount Sharp offer a series of layers that recorded different chapters in the environmental evolution of early Mars. JPL, a division of Caltech, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-257 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Rosetta Takes Comet's Temperature
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/54437-rosetta-takes-comets-temperature/ Rosetta takes comet's temperature European Space Agency 01 August 2014 ESA's Rosetta spacecraft has made its first temperature measurements of its target comet, finding that it is too hot to be covered in ice and must instead have a dark, dusty crust. The observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko were made by Rosetta's visible, infrared and thermal imaging spectrometer, VIRTIS, between 13 and 21 July, when Rosetta closed in from 14 000 km to the comet to just over 5000 km. At these distances, the comet covered only a few pixels in the field of view and so it was not possible to determine the temperatures of individual features. But, using the sensor to collect infrared light emitted by the whole comet, scientists determined that its average surface temperature is about -70°C. The comet was roughly 555 million kilometres from the Sun at the time - more than three times further away than Earth, meaning that sunlight is only about a tenth as bright. Although -70°C may seem rather cold, importantly, it is some 20â30°C warmer than predicted for a comet at that distance covered exclusively in ice. This result is very interesting, since it gives us the first clues on the composition and physical properties of the comet's surface, says VIRTIS principal investigator Fabrizio Capaccioni from INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy. Indeed, other comets such as 1P/Halley are known to have very dark surfaces owing to a covering of dust, and Rosetta's comet was already known to have a low reflectance from ground-based observations, excluding an entirely 'clean' icy surface. The temperature measurements provide direct confirmation that much of the surface must be dusty, because darker material heats up and emits heat more readily than ice when it is exposed to sunlight. This doesn't exclude the presence of patches of relatively clean ice, however, and very soon, VIRTIS will be able to start generating maps showing the temperature of individual features, adds Dr Capaccioni. In addition to global measurements, the sensor will study the variation of the daily surface temperature of specific areas of the comet, in order to understand how quickly the surface reacts to solar illumination. In turn, this will provide insight into the thermal conductivity, density and porosity of the top tens of centimetres of the surface. This information will be important in selecting a target site for Rosetta's lander, Philae. It will also measure the changes in temperature as the comet flies closer to the Sun along its orbit, providing substantially more heating of the surface. Combined with observations from the other 10 science experiments on Rosetta and those on the lander, VIRTIS will provide a thorough description of the surface physical properties and the gases in the comet's coma, watching as conditions change on a daily basis and as the comet loops around the Sun over the course of the next year, says Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta project scientist. With only a few days until we arrive at just 100 km distance from the comet, we are excited to start analysing this fascinating little world in more and more detail. More about Rosetta Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI. Rosetta will be the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander. Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the Sun and its planets formed. By studying the gas, dust and structure of the nucleus and organic materials associated with the comet, via both remote and in-situ observations, the Rosetta mission should become the key to unlocking the history and evolution of our Solar System, as well as answering questions regarding the origin of Earth's water and perhaps even life. For more information, please contact: Markus Bauer ESA Science and Robotic Exploration Communication Officer Tel: +31 71 565 6799 Mob: +31 61 594 3 954 Email: markus.ba...@esa.int Matt Taylor ESA Rosetta project scientist Email: matthew.tay...@esa.int Fabrizio Capaccioni VIRTIS principal investigator INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy Email: fabrizio.capacci...@iaps.inaf.it __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Dawn Journal - July 31, 2014
http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/2014/07/31/dawn-journal-july-31/ Dawn Journal by Marc Rayman July 31, 2014 Dear Studawnts and Teachers, Patient and persistent, silent and alone, Dawn is continuing its extraordinary extraterrestrial expedition. Flying through the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the spacecraft is using its advanced ion propulsion system to travel from Vesta, the giant protoplanet it unveiled in 2011 and 2012, to Ceres, the dwarf planet it will reach in about eight months. Most of these logs since December have presented previews of the ambitious plan for entering orbit and operating at Ceres to discover the secrets this alien world has held since the dawn of the solar system. We will continue with the previews next month. But now with Dawn three quarters of the way from Vesta to Ceres, let's check in on the progress of the mission, both on the spacecraft and in mission control at JPL. The mission is going extremely well. Thank you for asking. For readers who want more details, read on... The spacecraft, in what is sometimes misleading called quiet cruise, has spent more than 97 percent of the time this year following the carefully designed ion thrust flight plan needed to reshape its solar orbit, gradually making it more and more like Ceres' orbit around the sun. This is the key to how the ship can so elegantly enter into orbit around the massive body even with the delicate thrust, never greater than the weight of a single sheet of paper. The probe is equipped with three ion engines, although it only uses one at a time. (The locations of the engines were revealed shortly after launch when the spacecraft was too far from Earth for the information to be exploited for tawdry sensationalism.) Despite the disciplined and rigorous nature of operating a spaceship in the main asteroid belt, the team enjoys adding a lighthearted touch to their work, so they refer to the engines by the zany names #1, #2, and #3. Darth Vader and his Empire cohorts in Star Wars flew TIE --- twin ion engine --- Fighters in their battles against Luke Skywalker and others in the Rebel Alliance. Outfitted with three ion engines, Dawn does the TIE Fighters one better. We should acknowledge, however, that the design of the TIE Fighters did appear to provide greater agility, perhaps at the expense of fuel efficiency. Your correspondent would concur that when you are trying to destroy your enemy while dodging blasts from his laser cannons, economy of propellant consumption probably shouldn't be your highest priority. All three engines on Dawn are healthy, and mission controllers consider many criteria in formulating the plan for which one to use. This called for switching from thruster #2 to thruster #1 on May 27. Thruster #1 had last been used to propel the ship on Jan. 4, 2010. After well over four years of inaction in space, it came to life and emitted the famous blue-green beam of high velocity xenon ions right on schedule (at 4:19:19 pm PDT, should you wish to take yourself back to that moment), gently and reliably pushing the spacecraft closer to its appointment with Ceres. Without the tremendous capability of ion propulsion, a mission to orbit either Vesta or Ceres alone would have been unaffordable within NASA's Discovery program. A mission to orbit both destinations would be altogether impossible. The reason ion propulsion is so much more efficient than conventional chemical propulsion is that it can turn electrical energy into thrust. Chemical propulsion systems are limited to the energy stored in the propellants. Thanks to Dawn's huge solar arrays, electrical energy is available in abundance, even far from the brilliant sun. To make accurate predictions of the efficiency of the solar cells as Dawn continues to recede from the sun, engineers occasionally conduct a special calibration. As we described in more detail a year ago, they command the robot to rotate its panels to receive less sunlight, simulating being at greater solar distances, as the ion propulsion system is throttled to lower power levels. Following the first such calibration on June 24, 2013, we assured readers (including you) that we would repeat the calibration as Dawn continued its solar system travels. So you will be relieved to know that it was performed again on Oct. 14, Feb. 3, and May 27, and another is scheduled for Sept. 15. Having high confidence in how much power will be available for ion thrusting for the rest of the journey allows navigators to plot the best possible course. Dawn is on a real power trip! The reason for going to Ceres, besides it being an incredibly cool thing to do, is to use the suite of sophisticated sensors to learn about this mysterious dwarf planet. (In December, we will describe what is known about Ceres, just in time for it to change with Dawn's observations.) Controllers activated and tested the cameras and all the spectrometers
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: July 28 - August 1, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES July 28 - August 1, 2014 o Colles (28 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140728a o Hrad Vallis (29 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140729a o Hyperboreae Undae (30 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140730a o Cyane Fossae (31 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140731a o Kasei Valles (1 August 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140801a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: Jul 2-8, 2014
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Rover Completes Study of Area with Aluminum Clay Minerals; Heads South - sols 3711-3717, July 02, 2014-July 08, 2014: Opportunity is exploring south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover completed the survey of the region where orbital data suggests the presence of aluminum-hydroxyl clay minerals. On Sol 3711 (July 2, 2014), Opportunity began to move south. The rover collected some documentary Panoramic Camera (Pancam) images, and then drove a little over 79 feet (24 meters). The drive was followed by a 360-degree Navigation Camera (Navcam) panorama to document the new location and potential drive directions. On Sol 3713 (July 4, 2014), Opportunity continued heading south with a 43-feet (13-meter)-drive towards a feature called 'Broken Hills.' The drive was again preceded by targeted Pancam images and followed by documentary Navcam panoramas. The spacecraft clock correction effort continued each sol with the rate increased from 3 to 4 seconds on Sol 3715 (July 6, 2014). On 3716 (July 7, 2014), Opportunity headed closer to Broken Hills with a 62-feet (19-meter)-drive and more documentary imagery, plus an overnight atmospheric argon measurement with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. On Sol 3717 (July 8, 2014), the rover performed drive-by and got pictures (mid-drive imagery) of a large fin-like structure of Broken Hills as it passed during the 39-feet (12-meter)-drive. As of Sol 3717 (July 8, 2014), the solar array energy production was 735 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.738 and a solar array dust factor of 0.878. Total odometry is 24.66 miles (39.69 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 9-17, 2014
OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Heads South Towards Valley A Mile Away - sols 3718-3725, July 09, 2014-July 17, 2014: Opportunity is exploring south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading toward a valley over 1 mile (2 kilometers) away observed with clay minerals from orbit. The rover has been busy with driving on six of the last eight days (sols) with some robotic work on one of the two non-driving sols. Opportunity moved a total of 797 feet (243 meters) over the eight-sol period, collecting targeted Panoramic Camera (Pancam) images before each drive and Navigation Camera (Navcam) panoramas after each drive. The vehicle did experience another Flash-induced reset event during the drive on Sol 3724 (July 15, 2014). Although these resets have occurred before, this was the first time that it happened during a drive. The flight team was able to restore normal operations with the rover on the very next sol. The project continues to investigate these Flash-related anomalies. The one sol of in-situ (contact) science was the first sol of a two-sol autonomous 'touch 'n go' where the rover used the robotic arm (the 'touch') on Sol 3720 (July 11, 2014), to collect a Microscopic Imager mosaic of the surface target 'Trebia,' followed by an overnight contact integration measurement performed by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). On the next sol (Sol 2721; July 12, 2014), the rover drove (the 'go') over 213 feet (65 meters) with mid-drive imaging. Opportunity will collect an atmospheric argon measurement with the APXS on the evening of Sol 3725 (July 17, 2014). The rover is in good health and operations are nominal. As of Sol 3725 (July 17, 2014), the solar array energy production was 652 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.780 (Sol 3724; July 15, 2014) and a solar array dust factor of 0.854 (Sol 3724). Total odometry is 24.81 miles (39.93 kilometers). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MRO HiRISE Images: July 30, 2014
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES July 30, 2014 o Water-Bearing Rocks in Noctis Labyrinthus http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_036598_1735 Many of the depressions in Noctis Labyrinthus contain water-bearing minerals, suggesting that water was available and persistent in this region in the ancient past. o Preserving Ice from a Vanished Terrain http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_036598_1735 This image shows a pedestal crater, so-named because the level of the surface adjacent to the crater is elevated relative to the surface of the surrounding terrain. o Frosty Gullies http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037137_1360 HiRISE monitoring has shown that gully formation on Mars occurs in winter and early spring in times and places with frost on the ground. o Layers and Sand on the Floor of Schiaparelli Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_037161_1785 One interpretation of this region is that actively-moving sand kicks off the loose dust so we can see the hardened dust. All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Opportunity Update: July 18-22, 2014
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status.html#opportunity OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Passes 25 Miles of Driving on Mars! - sols 3726-3730, July 18, 2014-July 22, 2014: Opportunity is exploring south along the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading toward a notch, called 'Marathon Valley' about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) away. This valley has been observed from orbit to have an abundant clay mineral signature. On Sol 3727 (July 19, 2014), the rover began the first sol of a two-sol 'Touch 'n Go' with collecting a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of a surface target of opportunity, called 'Barstow,' then placing the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the same for a multi-hour integration (the 'Touch'). On the next sol, Opportunity drove over 328 feet (100 meters) (the 'Go') surpassing 25 miles (40 kilometers) in drive distance on Mars. The drive included some mid-drive imaging and post-drive Navigation Camera (Navcam) and Panoramic Camera (Pancam) panoramas. On Sol 3730 (July 22, 2014), the rover moved further with a 325-foot (99-meter) drive, again followed by post-drive Navcam and Pancam panoramas. A Flash memory amnesia event occurred on Sol 3727 (July 19, 2014). However, the science data were recovered with a subsequent second readout of the APXS. As of Sol 3730 (July 22, 2014), the solar array energy production was 676 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.771 and a solar array dust factor of 0.818. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before
July 31, 2014 NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet. NASA announced the selected Mars 2020 rover instruments Thursday at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Managers made the selections out of 58 proposals received in January from researchers and engineers worldwide. Proposals received were twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past. This is an indicator of the extraordinary interest by the science community in the exploration of the Mars. The selected proposals have a total value of approximately $130 million for development of the instruments. The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago, and currently is operating on Mars. The new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life. Today we take another important step on our journey to Mars, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. While getting to and landing on Mars is hard, Curiosity was an iconic example of how our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way for humans to pioneer Mars and beyond. Mars exploration will be this generation's legacy, and the Mars 2020 rover will be another critical step on humans' journey to the Red Planet. Scientists will use the Mars 2020 rover to identify and select a collection of rock and soil samples that will be stored for potential return to Earth by a future mission. The Mars 2020 mission is responsive to the science objectives recommended by the National Research Council's 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. The Mars 2020 rover, with these new advanced scientific instruments, including those from our international partners, holds the promise to unlock more mysteries of Mars' past as revealed in the geological record, said John Grunsfeld astronaut, and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. This mission will further our search for life in the universe and also offer opportunities to advance new capabilities in exploration technology. The Mars 2020 rover also will help advance our knowledge of how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. An ability to live off the Martian land would transform future exploration of the planet. Designers of future human expeditions can use this mission to understand the hazards posed by Martian dust and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen for human respiration and potentially oxidizer for rocket fuel. The 2020 rover will help answer questions about the Martian environment that astronauts will face and test technologies they need before landing on, exploring and returning from the Red Planet, said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Mars has resources needed to help sustain life, which can reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry. Better understanding the Martian dust and weather will be valuable data for planning human Mars missions. Testing ways to extract these resources and understand the environment will help make the pioneering of Mars feasible. The selected payload proposals are: * Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations. The principal investigator is James Bell, Arizona State University in Phoenix. * SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. The instrument will also be able to detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance. The principal investigator is Roger Wiens, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National dEtudes Spatiales,Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (CNES/IRAP) France. * Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that will also contain an imager with high resolution to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements
[meteorite-list] Rosetta's Comet: Imaging the Coma
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-256 Rosetta's Comet: Imaging the Coma Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 31, 2014 Less than a week before Rosetta's rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, images obtained by OSIRIS, the spacecraft's onboard scientific imaging system, show clear signs of a coma surrounding the comet's nucleus. A new image from July 25, 2014, clearly reveals an extended coma shrouding 67P's nucleus. Our coma images cover an area of 150 by 150 square kilometers (90 by 90 square miles), said Luisa Lara from the Institute of Astrophysics in Andalusia, Spain. Most likely these images show only the inner part of the coma, where particle densities are highest. Scientist expect that 67P's full coma actually reaches much farther. In the current image, the hazy, bright, circular structure to the right of the comet's nucleus is an artifact of the OSIRIS optical system. The center of the image located around the position of the nucleus is overexposed here. Other new images of the comet's nucleus confirm the collar-like appearance of the neck region, which appears brighter than most parts of the comet's body and head. Possible explanations range from differences in material or grain size to topological effects. Rosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. The scientific imaging system, OSIRIS, was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with Center of Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padua (Italy), the Astrophysical Laboratory of Marseille (France), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (Netherlands), the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (Spain), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain, and Sweden and the ESA Technical Directorate. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, CNES and ASI. Rosetta will be the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the sun, and deploy a lander to its surface. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Rosetta carries three NASA instruments in its 21-instrument payload. For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta Preston Dyches Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-7013 preston.dyc...@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Markus Bauer European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands 011-31-71-565-6799 markus.ba...@esa.int Birgit Krummheuer Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research 011-49-551-384-979-462 krummhe...@mps.mpg.de 2014-256 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA to Announce Mars 2020 Rover Instruments
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-248 NASA to Announce Mars 2020 Rover Instruments Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 30, 2014 ISSUED BY NASA HEADQUARTERS NASA will announce on Thursday, July 31, the instruments that will be carried aboard the agency's Mars 2020 mission, a roving laboratory based on the highly successful Curiosity rover. The announcement will air live at noon EDT on NASA Television and on the agency's website. The announcement will take place in the NASA TV studio at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW in Washington. The announcement participants are: -- John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters, Washington -- Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, Headquarters -- Michael Meyer, lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program, Headquarters -- Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist, Headquarters NASA received 58 proposals in January for science and exploration technology instruments to fly onboard the Mars 2020 mission, two times the average number of proposals submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past and an indicator of the extraordinary interest in exploration of the Red Planet. Media can ask questions from participating NASA locations, or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Steve Cole at 202-358-0918 or stephen.e.c...@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation by 11 a.m. Thursday. There also is limited seating in the NASA TV studio for media who would like to attend in person. To arrange access, media must email dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov by no later than 9 a.m. Thursday. Media and the public can join the conversation using #JourneyToMars, and ask questions using #askNASA. For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv For more information about NASA's Mars 2020 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Long-Lived Mars Opportunity Rover Passes 25 Miles of Driving
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-245 NASA Long-Lived Mars Opportunity Rover Passes 25 Miles of Driving Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 28, 2014 NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2004, now holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 25 miles (40 kilometers) of driving. The previous record was held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 rover. Opportunity has driven farther than any other wheeled vehicle on another world, said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This is so remarkable considering Opportunity was intended to drive about one kilometer and was never designed for distance. But what is really important is not how many miles the rover has racked up, but how much exploration and discovery we have accomplished over that distance. A drive of 157 feet (48 meters) on July 27 put Opportunity's total odometry at 25.01 miles (40.25 kilometers). This month's driving brought the rover southward along the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover had driven more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) before arriving at Endeavour Crater in 2011, where it has examined outcrops on the crater's rim containing clay and sulfate-bearing minerals. The sites are yielding evidence of ancient environments with less acidic water than those examined at Opportunity's landing site. If the rover can continue to operate the distance of a marathon -- 26.2 miles (about 42.2 kilometers) -- it will approach the next major investigation site mission scientists have dubbed Marathon Valley. Observations from spacecraft orbiting Mars suggest several clay minerals are exposed close together at this valley site, surrounded by steep slopes where the relationships among different layers may be evident. The Russian Lunokhod 2 rover, a successor to the first Lunokhod mission in 1970, landed on Earth's moon on Jan. 15, 1973, where it drove about 24.2 miles (39 kilometers) in less than five months, according to calculations recently made using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) cameras that reveal Lunokhod 2's tracks. Irina Karachevtseva at Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography's Extraterrestrial Laboratory in Russia, Brad Jolliff of Washington University in St. Louis, Tim Parker of JPL, and others collaborated to verify the map-based methods for computing distances are comparable for Lunokhod-2 and Opportunity. The Lunokhod missions still stand as two signature accomplishments of what I think of as the first golden age of planetary exploration, the 1960s and '70s, said Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and principal investigator for NASA's twin Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit. We're in a second golden age now, and what we've tried to do on Mars with Spirit and Opportunity has been very much inspired by the accomplishments of the Lunokhod team on the moon so many years ago. It has been a real honor to follow in their historical wheel tracks. As Opportunity neared the mileage record earlier this year, the rover team chose the name Lunokhod 2 for a crater about 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter on the outer slope of Endeavour's rim on Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Project is one element of NASA's ongoing and future Mars missions preparing for a human mission to the planet in the 2030s. JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages LRO for the Science Mission Directorate. For more information about NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, visit these sites: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/home/index.html Follow the project on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers On Facebook, visit: http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers An image of Lunokhod 2's tracks, as imaged by NASA's LRO, is available online at: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/774 Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov 2014-245 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] MESSENGER Gets Closer to Mercury than Ever Before
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/details.php?id=259 MESSENGER Mission News July 28, 2014 MESSENGER Gets Closer to Mercury than Ever Before On July 25, MESSENGER moved closer to Mercury than any spacecraft has before, dropping to an altitude at closest approach of only 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the planet's surface. The science team is implementing a remarkable campaign that takes full advantage of MESSENGER's orbital geometry, and the spacecraft continues to execute its command sequences flawlessly as the 14th Mercury year of the orbit phase comes to a close, said MESSENGER Mission Operations Manager Andy Calloway, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The latest observational campaign includes closer looks at polar ice deposits, unusual geological features, and the planet's gravity and magnetic fields in ways that have never been possible, said APL's Ralph McNutt, MESSENGER's Project Scientist. This dip in altitude is allowing us to see Mercury up close and personal for the first time. Because of progressive changes to the orbit over time, MESSENGER's minimum altitude will continue to decrease. On August 19, the minimum altitude will be cut in half, to 50 kilometers. Closest approach will be halved again to 25 kilometers on September 12, noted MESSENGER Mission Design Lead Engineer Jim McAdams, also of APL. Soon after reaching 25 kilometers above Mercury, an orbit-correction maneuver (OCM-10) will raise this minimum altitude to about 94 kilometers, he said. Two more maneuvers, on October 24 and January 21, 2015, will raise the minimum altitude sufficiently to delay the inevitable -- impact onto Mercury's surface -- until March 2015. MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is a NASA-sponsored scientific investigation of the planet Mercury and the first space mission designed to orbit the planet closest to the Sun. The MESSENGER spacecraft launched on August 3, 2004, and entered orbit about Mercury on March 17, 2011 (March 18, 2011 UTC), to begin a yearlong study of its target planet. MESSENGER's first extended mission began on March 18, 2012, and ended one year later. MESSENGER is now in a second extended mission, which is scheduled to conclude in March 2015. Dr. Sean C. Solomon, the Director of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, leads the mission as Principal Investigator. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory built and operates the MESSENGER spacecraft and manages this Discovery- class mission for NASA. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Spacecraft Prepare for Close Comet Flyby (C/2013 A1 Siding Spring)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-244 NASA Mars Spacecraft Prepare for Close Comet Flyby Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 25, 2014 NASA is taking steps to protect its Mars orbiters, while preserving opportunities to gather valuable scientific data, as Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring heads toward a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19. The comet's nucleus will miss Mars by about 82,000 miles (132,000 kilometers), shedding material hurtling at about 35 miles (56 kilometers) per second, relative to Mars and Mars-orbiting spacecraft. At that velocity, even the smallest particle -- estimated to be about one-fiftieth of an inch (half a millimeter) across -- could cause significant damage to a spacecraft. NASA currently operates two Mars orbiters, with a third on its way and expected to arrive in Martian orbit just a month before the comet flyby. Teams operating the orbiters plan to have all spacecraft positioned on the opposite side of the Red Planet when the comet is most likely to pass by. Three expert teams have modeled this comet for NASA and provided forecasts for its flyby of Mars, explained Rich Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The hazard is not an impact of the comet nucleus, but the trail of debris coming from it. Using constraints provided by Earth-based observations, the modeling results indicate that the hazard is not as great as first anticipated. Mars will be right at the edge of the debris cloud, so it might encounter some of the particles -- or it might not. During the day's events, the smallest distance between Siding Spring's nucleus and Mars will be less than one-tenth the distance of any known previous Earthly comet flyby. The period of greatest risk to orbiting spacecraft will start about 90 minutes later and last about 20 minutes, when Mars will come closest to the center of the widening dust trail from the nucleus. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) made one orbit-adjustment maneuver on July 2 as part of the process of repositioning the spacecraft for the Oct. 19 event. An additional maneuver is planned for Aug. 27. The team operating NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter is planning a similar maneuver on Aug. 5 to put that spacecraft on track to be in the right place at the right time, as well. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is on its way to the Red Planet and will enter orbit on Sept. 21. The MAVEN team is planning to conduct a precautionary maneuver on Oct. 9, prior to the start of the mission's main science phase in early November. In the days before and after the comet's flyby, NASA will study the comet by taking advantage of how close it comes to Mars. Researchers plan to use several instruments on the Mars orbiters to study the nucleus, the coma surrounding the nucleus, and the tail of Siding Spring, as well as the possible effects on the Martian atmosphere. This particular comet has never before entered the inner solar system, so it will provide a fresh source of clues to our solar system's earliest days. MAVEN will study gases coming off the comet's nucleus into its coma as it is warmed by the sun. MAVEN also will look for effects the comet flyby may have on the planet's upper atmosphere and observe the comet as it travels through the solar wind. Odyssey will study thermal and spectral properties of the comet's coma and tail. MRO will monitor Mars' atmosphere for possible temperature increases and cloud formation, as well as changes in electron density at high altitudes. The MRO team also plans to study gases in the comet's coma. Along with other MRO observations, the team anticipates this event will yield detailed views of the comet's nucleus and potentially reveal its rotation rate and surface features. Mars' atmosphere, though much thinner than Earth's, is thick enough that NASA does not anticipate any hazard to the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers on the planet's surface, even if dust particles from the comet hit the atmosphere and form into meteors. Rover cameras may be used to observe the comet before the flyby, and to monitor the atmosphere for meteors while the comet's dust trail is closest to the planet. Observations from Earth-based and space telescopes provided data used for modeling to make predictions about Siding Spring's Mars flyby, which were in turn used for planning protective maneuvers. The three modeling teams were headed by researchers at the University of Maryland in College Park, the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and JPL. For more information about the Mars flyby of comet Siding Spring, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/comets/sidingspring For more information about NASA's Mars Exploration Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: July 21-25, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES July 21-25, 2014 o More Polar Dunes (21 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140721a o Coloe Fossae (22 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140722a o Lyot Crater Dunes (23 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140723a o Plains Layers (24 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140724a o Rubicon Valles (25 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140725a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NEOWISE Spots a Comet That Looked Like an Asteroid: C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina)
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-241 NEOWISE Spots a Comet That Looked Like an Asteroid Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 23, 2014 Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) has been observed by NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft just one day after passing through its closest approach to the sun. The comet glows brightly in infrared wavelengths, with a dust tail streaking more than 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) across the sky. Its spectacular activity is driven by the vaporization of ice that has been preserved from the time of planet formation 4.5 billion years ago. The tail forms a faint fan as the smaller dust particles are more easily pushed away from the sun by the radiation pressure of the sunlight, said James Bauer, researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. C/2013 UQ4 takes more than 450 years to orbit the sun once and spends most of its time far away at very low temperatures. Its orbit is also retrograde, which means that the comet moves around the sun in the opposite direction to the planets and asteroids. The comet was originally thought to be an asteroid, as it appeared inactive when discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on October 23, 2013. NEOWISE also observed the comet to be inactive on New Year's Eve, 2013, but since then the comet has become highly active, allowing astronomers around the world to observe it. The comet's activity should decline as it once again returns to the cold recesses of space. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the NEOWISE mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., built the spacecraft. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about NEOWISE, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/neowise Elizabeth Landau 818-354-6425 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. elizabeth.lan...@jpl.nasa.gov 2014-241 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Surface Impressions of Rosetta's Comet
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-243 Surface impressions of Rosetta's comet Jet Propulsion Laboratory July 24, 2014 Surface structures are becoming visible in new images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by the scientific imaging system OSIRIS onboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. The resolution of these images is now 330 feet (100 meters) per pixel. One of the most striking features is currently found in the comet's neck region. This part of 67P seems to be brighter than the rest of the nucleus. As earlier images had already shown, 67P may consist of two parts: a smaller head connected to a larger body. The connecting region, the neck, is proving to be especially intriguing. The only thing we know for sure at this point is that this neck region appears brighter compared to the head and body of the nucleus, says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. This collar-like appearance could be caused by differences in material or grain size, or could be a topographical effect. Even though the images taken from a distance of 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) are still not highly resolved, the scientists are remotely reminded of comet 103P/Hartley, which was visited in a flyby by NASA's EPOXI mission in 2010. While Hartley's ends show a rather rough surface, its middle is much smoother. Scientists believe this waist to be a gravitational low: since it contains the body's center of mass, emitted material that cannot leave the comet's gravitational field is most likely to be re-deposited there. Whether this also holds true for 67P's neck region is still unclear. Another explanation for the high reflectivity could be a different surface composition. In coming weeks, the OSIRIS team hopes to analyze the spectral data of this region obtained with the help of the imaging system's filters. These can select several wavelength regions from the reflected light, allowing scientists to identify the characteristic fingerprints of certain materials and compositional features. At the same time, the team is currently modeling the comet's three-dimensional shape from the camera data. Such a model can help to get a better impression of the body's shape. Rosetta will be the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the sun, and deploy a lander to its surface. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center, Cologne; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen; French National Space Agency, Paris; and the Italian Space Agency, Rome. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the U.S. participation in the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Rosetta carries three NASA instruments in its 21-instrument payload. For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov More information about Rosetta is available at: http://www.esa.int/rosetta Preston Dyches Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-7013 preston.dyc...@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov Markus Bauer European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands 011-31-71-565-6799 markus.ba...@esa.int Birgit Krummheuer Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research 011-49-551-384-979-462 krummhe...@mps.mpg.de 2014-243 __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] BepiColombo Integration and Functional Testing Completed
http://sci.esa.int/bepicolombo/54364-13-bepicolombo-integration-and-functional-testing-completed-at-thales-alenia-space-in-turin/ #13: BepiColombo integration and functional testing completed at Thales Alenia Space in Turin European Space Agency 21 July 2014 Integration and functional testing activities for the protoflight models of the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter, Mercury Transfer Module, and Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure have now been completed at the Thales Alenia Space facility in Turin, Italy. All the mission components have been, or will soon be, delivered to ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, where additional integration tasks and an environmental testing campaign will be performed. On 4 July 2014, a press event was held at the Turin facility of Thales Alenia Space (TAS-I) to mark the completion of a shipment readiness review held before the ProtoFlight Models (PFMs) of the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), and Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure (MOSIF) were prepared for transport to ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. At ESTEC, final integration tasks and then environmental testing will be performed. The MTM and MOSIF left Turin on the evening of 7 July and arrived at ESTEC during the night of 10/11 July. The MPO is scheduled to leave on 4 August and arrive on 7/8 August. The MTM was delivered to TAS-I by Astrium UK (now Airbus Defence and Space). As supplied, it consisted of the mechanical spacecraft bus and the chemical propulsion system. The MTM radiator panels were removed from the central structure and the module has been equipped with the rest of its subsystems while in Turin. However, for the electrical propulsion subsystem, the relevant high voltage harness and electronic units are still representative dummy models, used to confirm the routing of the harness. While the spacecraft is at ESTEC, these will be replaced with the flight units and the four electric thrusters will be installed on the thruster pointing mechanisms already integrated on the MTM thruster floor. Once this has been completed, the thermal blankets will be fitted, prior to a Thermal Balance/Thermal Vacuum (TB/TV) test in ESTEC's Large Space Simulator (LSS) during the first half of 2015. Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure Integration of the MOSIF structure and harness has been completed in Turin. The thermal protection will be integrated while it is at ESTEC, in readiness for testing as part of the complete spacecraft stack. Last year, the MPO was transported to TAS-I from ESTEC, where it had been baked out to remove potential contaminants after having been assembled by Astrium UK. As delivered, it consisted of the spacecraft mechanical bus with the heat pipes and chemical propulsion system installed. Nearly all of its other subsystems and payload components have been integrated and tested while it has been in Turin. Once it arrives back at ESTEC next month, some final integration tasks will be completed and installation of the thermal blankets will be finalised. Later this year, it will undergo TB/TV testing in the LSS. About BepiColombo BepiColombo is Europe's first mission to Mercury. It is scheduled to launch in July 2016 and arrive at Mercury in January 2024. It will endure temperatures in excess of 350 °C and gather data during a one-year nominal mission, with a possible one-year extension. The mission comprises two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). During the journey to Mercury, the MMO will be shielded from the Sun by the Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Structure (MOSIF), which also provides the interface between the MMO and the MPO. The fourth component of the composite spacecraft stack is the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), whose primary task is to provide solar-electric propulsion for the journey to Mercury. BepiColombo is a joint mission by ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership. The Prime Contractor for BepiColombo is Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium GmbH). __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites
July 23, 2014 NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to investigate the possibility of using commercial Mars-orbiting satellites to provide telecommunications capabilities for future robotic missions to the Red Planet. We are looking to broaden participation in the exploration of Mars to include new models for government and commercial partnerships, said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Depending on the outcome, the new model could be a vital component in future science missions and the path for humans to Mars. The RFI details possible new business models that would involve NASA contracting to purchase services from a commercial service provider, which would own and operate one or more communication relay orbiters. The solicitation is open to all types of organizations including U.S. industry, universities, nonprofits, NASA centers, and federally funded research and development centers, in addition to U.S. government and international organizations. NASA is interested in exploring alternative models to sustain and evolve its Mars' communications relay infrastructure to avoid a communications gap in the 2020s. The RFI encourages innovative ideas for cost-effective approaches that provide relay services for existing landers, as well as significantly improving communications performance. One possible area for improvement is laser or optical communications. NASA successfully demonstrated laser communications technology in October 2013 with its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. LADEE made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over 239,000 miles from the moon to Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps). Mars landers and rovers currently transmit their science data and other information to Earth either by a direct communication link or via orbiting satellites acting as relay stations. The direct link is severely limited because of mass, volume, and power limits on the rovers. To address these limits, NASA's Mars Exploration Program currently uses relay radios on its Mars science orbiters. The spacecraft carry high-gain antennas and higher power transmitters that provide very high-rate, energy-efficient links between orbiters and surface missions as the obiters pass overhead. NASA currently is operating two Mars science orbiters with relay capabilities -- Odyssey, launched in 2001, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched in 2005. These spacecraft enable communication links from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers on Mars' surface. This approach will continue with the Sept. 21 arrival of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, and the 2016 arrival of the European Space Agency's ExoMars/Trace Gas Orbiter. This Mars relay strategy has been extremely successful in providing the science and engineering data returned from the Martian surface over the past decade, said Lisa May, lead program executive for Mars Exploration Program in Washington. Because NASA has launched science orbiters to Mars on a steady cadence, the current strategy has been cost effective. However, NASA has no scheduled Mars science orbiters after MAVEN arrives on the Red Planet in the fall. This creates the need to identify cost-effective options to ensure continuity of reliable, high-performance telecommunications relay services for the future. Looking ahead, we need to seriously explore the possibility of the commercialization of Mars communications services, said May. This will offer advantages to NASA, while also providing appropriate return-on-investment to the service provider. The RFI is for planning and information purposes only. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the government pay for information solicited. To view the complete RFI, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1kV6KYj For more information on NASA Mars missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars For information on the LADEE mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ladee -end- Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.br...@nasa.gov __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Torino Scale is 15-Years Old
Hi, The Torina Scale is 15-years old today. http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/torino_scale.html Ron __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: July 14-18, 2014
MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES July 14-18, 2014 o Aspledon Undae (14 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140714a o Hills (15 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140715a o Polar Dunes (16 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140716a o Olympia Undae (17 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140717a o Lonar Crater (18 July 2014) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20140718a All of the THEMIS images are archive here: http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] The Dual Personality of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/07/17/the-dual-personality-of-comet-67pc-g/ The dual personality of comet 67P/C-G Rosetta Blog July 17, 2014 [Image] Comet 67P/C-G imaged on 14 July 2014 from a distance of approximately 12 000 km. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA This week's images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reveal an extraordinarily irregular shape. We had hints of that in last week's images and in the unscheduled previews that were seen a few days ago, and in that short time it has become clear that this is no ordinary comet. Like its name, it seems that comet 67P/C-G is in two parts. What the spacecraft is actually seeing is the pixelated image shown at right, which was taken by Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow angle camera on 14 July from a distance of 12 000 km. A second image and a movie show the comet after the image has been processed. The technique used, called sub-sampling by interpolation, only acts to remove the pixelisation and make a smoother image, and it is important to note that the comet's surface features won't be as smooth as the processing implies. The surface texture has yet to be resolved simply because we are still too far away; any apparent brighter or darker regions may turn out to be false interpretations at this early stage. But the movie, which uses a sequence of 36 interpolated images each separated by 20 minutes, certainly provides a truly stunning 360-degree preview of the overall complex shape of the comet. Regardless of surface texture, we can certainly see an irregular shaped world shining through. Indeed, some people have already likened the shape to a duck, with a distinct body and head. Although less obvious in the real image, the movie of interpolated images supports the presence of two definite components. One segment seems to be rather elongated, while the other appears more bulbous. Dual objects like this - known as contact binaries in comet and asteroid terminology - are not uncommon. Indeed, comet 8P/Tuttle is thought to be such a contact binary; radio imaging by the ground-based Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico in 2008 suggested that it comprises two sphere-like objects. Meanwhile, the bone-shaped comet 103P/Hartley 2, imaged during NASA's EPOXI flyby in 2011, revealed a comet with two distinct halves separated by a smooth region. In addition, observations of asteroid 25143 Itokawa by JAXA's Hayabusa mission, combined with ground-based data, suggest an asteroid comprising two sections of highly contrasting densities. [Animation] Rotating view of comet 67P/C-G on 14 July 2014. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Is Rosetta en-route to rendezvous with a similar breed of comet? The scientific rewards of studying such a comet would be high, as a number of possibilities exist as to how they form. One popular theory is that such an object could arise when two comets - even two compositionally distinct comets - melded together under a low velocity collision during the Solar System's formation billions of years ago, when small building blocks of rocky and icy debris coalesced to eventually create planets. Perhaps comet 67P/C-G will provide a unique record of the physical processes of accretion. Or maybe it is the other way around - that is, a single comet could be tugged into a curious shape by the strong gravitational pull of a large object like Jupiter or the Sun; after all, comets are rubble piles with weak internal strength as directly witnessed in the fragmentation of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and the subsequent impacts into Jupiter, 20 years ago this week. Perhaps the two parts of comet 67P/C-G will one day separate completely. [Image] Comet 67P/C-G on 14 July 2014 - processed view. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA On the other hand, perhaps comet 67P/C-G may have once been a much rounder object that became highly asymmetric thanks to ice evaporation. This could have happened when the comet first entered the Solar System from the Kuiper Belt, or on subsequent orbits around the Sun. One could also speculate that the striking dichotomy of the comet's morphology is the result of a near catastrophic impact event that ripped out one side of the comet. Similarly, it is not unreasonable to think that a large outburst event may have weakened one side of the comet so much that it simply gave away, crumbling into space. But, while the interpolated images are certainly brilliant, we need to be closer still to see a better three-dimensional view - not to mention to perform a spectroscopic analysis to determine the comet's composition - in order to draw robust scientific conclusions about this exciting comet. Rosetta Mission Manager Fred Jansen comments: We currently see images that suggest a rather complex cometary shape, but there is still a lot that we need to learn
