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Дата: 11 марта 1998 (1998-03-11)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Ed Massey Named Voyager Manager
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From the "JPL Universe"
January 23, 1998
Massey named Voyager manager
Ed Massey has been named project manager of JPL's Voyager Interstellar
Mission. He replaces George Textor, who retired Dec. 31.
Massey is also project manager of the Ulysses mission to the sun. The
Ulysses and Voyager missions will be managed under the same office.
A JPL employee since 1987, Massey has managed Ulysses since 1996. Prior
to his JPL career, he held a number of increasingly responsible positions
within the U.S. Air Force, the last of which was director of space test
operations for the Air Force's Operational Test and Evaluation Center.
An Alabama native, Massey earned a bachelor's degree in electrical
engineering from Tuskegee University in 1966, followed by a master's degree
in systems management from USC.
For his work on project control and administration for Ulysses, Massey
received NASA's Exceptional Service Award in 1991.
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Дата: 11 марта 1998 (1998-03-11)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Kids Use Internet To Learn About Airplane Design
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Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC March 4, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1726)
John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone: 650/604-5026)
RELEASE: 98-36
KIDS USE INTERNET TO LEARN ABOUT AIRPLANE DESIGN
A NASA project called Aero Design Team Online is using the
Internet to help students learn about airplane design.
Students and the general public can visit a website
(http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/) to find out how aeronautical
engineers use airplane models, wind tunnels, supercomputers,
simulators and other tools during the airplane design cycle. The
project continues through May, although plans are underway to
extend it into the summer.
"We're teaching about airplane design through the lives of
people who are doing the work," said Susan Lee of NASA's Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. "For example, we're following
a wind tunnel test of a model of a future supersonic airliner."
In addition, kids ask questions via e-mail; learn how an
airplane flies; see pictures of aircraft; and participate in
Internet chats with people from teams that design and test
airplanes. During Internet chats, youngsters use computers to
converse with mentors by typing questions and reading responses
and dialogue via the World Wide Web.
Teachers can visit the teachers' "lounge" on the website.
Various educational materials including aeronautics lesson plans
are in the lounge. The plans list creative ways to bring the Aero
Design Team Online project into the classroom. Educators also
have Internet chats with other teachers, describing classroom
problems and solutions.
"NASA is providing the website because the agency has a
mandate to help teachers and students understand NASA research in
aeronautics. The website gives knowledge to students that they
can apply to their studies," said Ames Educational Group Leader
Garth Hull.
"The Internet gives our engineers an effective tool to
interact with audiences we normally would not reach. We hope by
using this resource these students will be better prepared to see
vocational opportunities and become better informed citizens," he added.
Another segment of the on-line project will follow the
progress of astronauts training in the largest vertical motion
simulator in the world, located at Ames, Lee said. "They are
practicing their Shuttle landings with a new simulator program
that includes global positioning."
The project is one in a suite of online offerings from NASA's
Quest Project at URL http://quest.arc.nasa.gov. These
interactive projects connect students with NASA employees to
inspire them to pursue high-tech careers.
-end-
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Дата: 11 марта 1998 (1998-03-11)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: New Planetary Encyclopedia Has Definite JPL Flavor
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From the "JPL Universe"
February 6, 1998
New planetary encyclopedia has definite JPL flavor
By MARK WHALEN
JPL scientist Jim Shirley and colleagues have completed a
comprehensive reference book that is being noted among the best
in its class.
The volume, Encyclopedia of Planetary Sciences, is part of
publisher Chapman & Hall's "Earth Science" series. It is close
to 1,000 pages in length and is packed with almost 500 articles
submitted by 214 contributors, bolstered by numerous maps,
planetary images, charts and tables.
Of note is the fact that more than 30 of those authors are
current, former or retired JPL scientists, all of whom have
extensive experience in authoring scientific articles for
publication.
"We included a diversity of viewpoints, and some difference
of opinion," said Shirley, the book's co-editor, who works on
Galileo's Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). He noted
that separate articles cover all major lunar and planetary
missions since the days of JPL's Lunar Orbiter, Ranger and
Surveyor missions of the 1960s.
Although the book's manuscript was submitted for publication
prior to Galileo's Jupiter orbit insertion in late 1995, there
are major articles on both the Galileo and Cassini missions.
According to Shirley, the difference between his work and
prior encyclopedic efforts to chronicle planetary science is the
large number of articles. Most other books include only a few
dozen articles at most, he said.
"We have limited the length of the major articles to about
5,000 words," Shirley said. "This allowed us to provide at least
10 times more content than any previous book that looks at the
solar system or planetary science as a whole." He pointed to the
book's comprehensive coverage of asteroids, meteorites, fields
and particles; processes such as impact cratering and planetary
accretion; and of techniques of remote sensing, image processing
and celestial mechanics.
The standard articles are about 2,000 words in length. A
third category in the encyclopedia covers definitions of
geological, astronomical, physical and meteorological terms that
range up to about 500 words. Also in this category are nearly
100 biographical entries on pioneering scientists.
Shirley, who noted with humor that the effort was a
"hellishly time-consuming project," wanted to reach a wide
readership, not just scientists. For example, he said, "We tried
to make the book accessible for a high school student who might
wonder how JPL produces such amazing images of planets."
The volume has been favorably reviewed in science journals.
New Scientist magazine noted that the book "provides
comprehensive and concise coverage of the whole gamut of
planetary science in a form that will be of great use to
professionals, students and interested general readers.
"When it comes to the planets, their characteristics,
interrelations and environment, this is the book of the decade,"
declared the review's author.
Although the manuscript was completed more than two years
ago, Shirley is not overly concerned that the book will rapidly
become out of date. "The users of encyclopedia articles need a
clear summary of the basic facts, together with a good list of
references for further study. The latest interpretations, on the
other hand, may become stale with time. Encyclopedia articles
should help move the reader rapidly up the learning curve."
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Дата: 11 марта 1998 (1998-03-11)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Cassini Update - March 6, 1998
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CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS REPORT
FOR WEEK ENDING 03/06/98
Spacecraft Status:
The Cassini spacecraft is presently traveling at a speed relative to the
sun of approximately 138,000 kilometers/hour (~86,000 mph) and has
traveled approximately 369 million kilometers (~229 million miles) since
launch on October 15, 1997.
The most recent Spacecraft status is from the DSN tracking pass on
Thursday, 03/05, over Canberra. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent
state of health and is operating nominally, with the C6 sequence executing
onboard.
Inertial attitude control is being maintained using the spacecraft's
hydrazine thrusters (RCS system). The spacecraft continues to fly in a
High Gain Antenna-to-Sun attitude. It will maintain the HGA-to-Sun
attitude, except for planned trajectory correction maneuvers, for the
first 14 months of flight.
Communication with Earth during early cruise is via one of the
spacecraft's two low-gain antennas; the antenna selected depends on the
relative geometry of the Sun, Earth and the spacecraft. The downlink
telemetry rate is presently 40 bps.
Spacecraft Activity Summary:
From Friday, 02/27, through Monday, 03/02, there were no changes in
spacecraft configuration.
On Tuesday, 03/03, the Solid State Recorder (SSR) record and playback
pointers were reset, according to plan. This housekeeping activity, done
approximately weekly, maximizes the amount of time that recorded
engineering data is available for playback to the ground should an anomaly
occur on the spacecraft.
On Wednesday, 03/04, a maintenance activity was performed on the SSR
Flight Software Partitions. This activity repairs any SSR double bit
errors (DBEs) which have occurred in the code-containing portions of the
Flight Software partitions during the preceding period. Telemetry
following Wednesday's activity indicated that the three pending DBEs were
all in the unused portion of the flight software partitions. The clearing
of these (by the partition copy procedure) will be scheduled for an
upcoming DSN pass.
On Thursday, 03/05, there were no changes in spacecraft configuration.
Upcoming events:
Events for the week of 03/06 through 03/12 include: clearing of the SSR
DBEs mentioned above (to be scheduled), a reset of the SSR pointers
(03/10), approval of the C7 sequence (03/11), update of spacecraft mass
properties (03/ 12; based on the successful TCM on 2/25), FP log
maintenance (03/12), and uplink of C7 Sequence (03/12). The C7 sequence
will begin on Sunday, 3/15/98.
DSN Coverage:
Over the past week Cassini had 8 DSN tracks occurring daily from Friday
(02/27) through Thursday (03/02). In the coming week there will be 8 DSN
passes.
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Дата: 11 марта 1998 (1998-03-11)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Sky & Telescope News Bulletin - March 6, 1998
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SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN
MARCH 6, 1998
WATER ON THE MOON
Conjuring up images of lunar bases and copious rocket fuel, scientists
announced yesterday that the Lunar Prospector spacecraft has found evidence
for large quantities of water on the Moon. While stressing that the numbers
remain preliminary, Principal Investigator Alan Binder (Lunar Research
Institute) and his colleagues tentatively estimate that several hundred
million tons of water are locked up as ice in permanently shadowed regions
on both lunar poles. The evidence comes courtesy Lunar Prospector's neutron
spectrometer, which tallies neutrons with differing amounts of kinetic
energy. Those neutrons are spawned when cosmic-ray particles smash into
atoms on the Moon's surface; they then lose energy gradually as they
ricochet off other atoms. Once the neutrons slow down a bit, they are
particularly susceptible to collisions with hydrogen nuclei (protons). On
its numerous polar passes, Lunar Prospector has seen intermediate-energy
neutrons drop in number by a few percent. William Feldman (Los Alamos
National Laboratory), who designed the spectrometer, cautions that this
only proves that excess hydrogen is present on the lunar poles. However, he
continues, water is the likeliest compound to contain that hydrogen, given
conditions on the Moon. The finding bolsters tantalizing but unconfirmed
radar evidence from the Clementine satellite, which orbited the Moon in
1994. Lunar Prospector was launched on January 6th from Kennedy Space
Center; shortly thereafter, it entered a two-hour polar orbit 100
kilometers above the Moon's surface. During the 11 remaining months of its
nominal year-long mission, it will map the Moon's elemental composition,
surface gravity, and magnetic fields. It will also "sniff" for radioactive
radon that may issue from the lunar surface during tectonic activity.
EUROPAN OCEAN SUPPORT DEEPENS
New pictures from the Jupiter-orbiting Galileo spacecraft released on March
2nd have strengthened the belief that Europa may have a global subsurface
ocean. The spacecraft made it closest flyby of Europa on December 16, 1997,
passing only 200 kilometers above the icy surface, providing the most
detailed views Galileo will ever capture. Planetary scientists gathered at
Brown University pointed to various surface features that support the
notion that tidal flexing of the moon by Jupiter and the other Galilean
satellites has warmed the ice to at least a slushy consistency. Telltale
signs include a crater with a basin that appears to have been filled in by
warm ice, fields of jumbled iceberg-like debris, and smooth ribbons of
fresh ice filling fractures. According to James Head (Brown University),
"Together, the evidence supports the hypothesis that in Europa's most
recent history, liquid or at least partially liquid water existed at
shallow depths below the surface of Europa in several different places."
COLLINS TO RAISE AXAF
The launch of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) should get a
bit of enhanced attention this December. The keener public interest will
probably not be for this "Great Observatory's" exceptional capabilities for
studying high-energy phenomena in the universe, but because the STS-93
mission aboard Space Shuttle COLUMBIA will be led by astronaut Eileen
Collins, who will become the first woman to command a Space Shuttle
mission.
SLIGHT LUNAR ECLIPSE
The Moon skims through the outer fringe of the Earth's shadow (penumbra)
the night of March 12-13. Observers may be able to detect a hint of shading
on the Moon's southern side from about 3:40 to 5:00 Universal Time March
13th (10:40 p.m. to midnight EST on the evening of March 12th).
THIS WEEK'S "SKY AT A GLANCE"
Some daily events in the changing sky, from the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE.
MARCH 8 -- SUNDAY
* Some doorstep astronomy: Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, shines
high in the south shortly after dark at this time of year. It's so bright
(magnitude -1.4) that it shows through almost any amount of light pollution.
MARCH 9 -- MONDAY
* More doorstep astronomy: The constellation Orion is to the upper right of
Sirius, by about two fist-widths at arm's length. A similar distance to
Sirius's upper left, look for Procyon.
MARCH 10 -- TUESDAY
* Faint Mars is 1 degree to the left of brighter Mercury; look for them
very low in twilight, due west. They're to Saturn's lower right.
* Regulus shines near the Moon this evening.
MARCH 11 -- WEDNESDAY
* An early-morning challenge! During the very first light of dawn tomorrow,
binocular and telescope users can try spotting Uranus 7 arcminutes south of
the orange star 19 Capricorni. They're both magnitude 5.9.
MARCH 12 -- THURSDAY
* Full Moon, and penumbral lunar eclipse; the Moon skims through the
outer fringe (penumbra) of the Earth's shadow. See if you can detect a hint
of shading on the Moon's southern side from about 3:40 to 5:00 Universal Time
March 13th. (In Eastern Standard Time, that's 10:40 p.m. to midnight on the
evening of March 12th.)
Mideclipse occurs at 4:20 UT (11:20 p.m. EST), when the Moon's edge is 73
percent of the way across the penumbra. The Moon is visible throughout the
Americas and Europe at the time.
MARCH 13 -- FRIDAY
* Spica shines below the Moon after they rise in midevening.
MARCH 14 -- SATURDAY
* Look for the Big Dipper in the northeastern sky during the evening this
month. It's standing upright on its handle.
============================
THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP
============================
MERCURY and MARS are very low in the west as twilight fades. Look for them
down to the lower right of Saturn. Mercury is the brighter of the two.
VENUS shines brightly in the southeast during dawn.
JUPITER is hidden in the glare of sunrise.
SATURN shines rather low in the western sky during dusk.
URANUS and NEPTUNE are emerging from the glow of sunrise. They're in the
background of brilliant Venus.
PLUTO, magnitude 13.8, is near the Ophiuchus-Scorpius border in the
south-southeast before dawn.
(All descriptions that relate to the horizon or zenith are written for the
world's midnorthern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude
are for North America. Eastern Standard Time, EST, equals Universal Time
minus 5 hours.)
More details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each month
in SKY & TELESCOPE, the essential magazine of astronomy. See our Web site at
http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies!
SKY & TELESCOPE, P.O. Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02178 * 617-864-7360 (voice)
Copyright 1998 Sky Publishing Corporation. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin and
Sky at a Glance stargazing calendar are provided as a service to the
astronomical community by the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE magazine.
Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as long as these paragraphs
are included. But the text of the bulletin and calendar may not be
published in any other form without permission from Sky Publishing (contact
permissions@skypub.com or phone 617-864-7360). Illustrated versions,
including active links to related Internet resources, are available via SKY
Online on the World Wide Web at http://www.skypub.com/.
In response to numerous requests, and in cooperation with the Astronomical
League (http://www.mcs.net/~bstevens/al/) and the American Association of
Amateur Astronomers (http://www.corvus.com/), S&T's Weekly News Bulletin and
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SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy, is read by more than
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For subscription information, or for a free copy of our catalog of fine
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custserv@skypub.com. SKY Online: http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies!
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