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Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Far-Flung Galaxy Clusters May Reveal Fate Of Universe Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... FOR RELEASE: August 27, 1998 CONTACT: Don Savage NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1547) Bill Steigerwald Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (Phone: 301/286-5017) Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD (Phone: 410/338-4514) PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR98-27 FAR-FLUNG GALAXY CLUSTERS MAY REVEAL FATE OF UNIVERSE A survey of galaxy clusters by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found what could be some of the most distant clusters ever seen. If the distances and masses of the clusters are confirmed by ground-based telescopes, the survey may hold clues to how galaxies quickly formed into massive large-scale structures after the Big Bang, and what that may mean for the eventual fate of the universe. According to theoretical models, if the clusters turn out to be massive and very distant, it could imply that the cosmos does not contain enough matter for gravity to stop the expansion of the universe. These models predict that such a low-density universe would have built most of its galaxy clusters long ago. About 10 to 20 of the farthest clusters in the Hubble survey may be over seven billion light years away, which means that the clusters, and their populations of tens or perhaps hundreds of galaxies each, were fully assembled early in the history of the universe. Present distance estimates are based on the colors of the galaxies in each cluster. The redder the overall cluster appears, the more distant it is, an assumption based on the apparent reddening of light -- known as red shift -- as stars and galaxies move away from us at high speeds. The distances can be more accurately measured using a spectrograph attached to a ground-based telescope. The Hubble survey contains 92 new clusters uncovered during a six-year sky survey known as the Medium Deep Survey, led by a team of astronomers now at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. The project has been led by Professor Richard Griffiths and senior scientist Dr. Kavan Ratnatunga. The catalog samples an area of the sky that is small, but scattered over 300 random directions. The clusters were found using an automated procedure developed by the Carnegie Mellon team. They first identified large elliptical galaxies in random fields taken by Hubble. Next, an automated procedure was used to search statistically for an over-abundance of galaxies around the large elliptical galaxies. The assumption is that the excess galaxies all belong to the same cluster. This procedure helped to discriminate clusters against the field galaxy population which is smoothly distributed across the sky Major new telescopes must be used to study these clusters to measure their distances. The whole HST catalog of galaxies can be searched on the web at: http://astro.phys.cmu.edu/mds/ The Hubble observations will be published in the Astronomical Journal. The research team members are: E. J. Ostrander; K. U. Ratnatunga; and R. E. Griffiths, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University. The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). - end - EDITOR'S NOTE: Images and a caption associated with this release are available on the Internet at: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/1998/27 or via links in: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/latest.html or http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html. GIF and JPEG images are available via anonymous ftp to oposite.stsci.edu in /pubinfo/gif/9827.gif and /pubinfo/jpeg/9827.jpg. Higher resolution digital versions (300 dpi JPEG) of the release photos available at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/1998/27. TIFF files are available at http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/tiff/1998/9827a.tif, 9827b.tif and 9827c.tif. Other images from Hubble's Medium Deep Field catalog are available at http://astro.phys.cmu.edu/mds/. STScI press releases and other information are available by sending an Internet electronic mail message to pio-request@stsci.edu. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the word "subscribe" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation of the subscription and users will receive new press releases as they are issued. ************************************************ PHOTO CAPTION FOR RELEASE: August 27, 1998 PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC98-27 FAR-FLUNG GALAXY CLUSTERS MAY REVEAL FATE OF UNIVERSE A selection of NASA Hubble Space Telescope snapshots of huge galaxy clusters that lie far away and far back in time. These are selected from a catalog of 92 new clusters uncovered during a six-year Hubble observing program known as the Medium Deep Survey. If the distances and masses of the clusters are confirmed by ground based telescopes, the survey may hold clues to how galaxies quickly formed into massive large-scale structures after the big bang, and what that may mean for the eventual fate of the expanding universe. The images are each a combination of two exposures in yellow and deep red taken with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Each cluster's distance is inferred from the reddening of the starlight, which is due to the expansion of space. Astronomers assume these clusters all formed early in the history of the universe. HST133617-00529 (left) This collection of spiral and elliptical galaxies lies an estimated 4 to 6 billion light-years away. It is in the constellation of Virgo not far from the 3rd magnitude star Zeta Virginis. The brighter galaxies in this cluster have red magnitudes between 20 and 22 near the limit of the Palomar Sky Survey. The bright blue galaxy (upper left) is probably a foreground galaxy, and not a cluster member. The larger of the galaxies in the cluster are probably about the size of our Milky Way Galaxy. The diagonal line at lower right is an artificial satellite trail. HST002013+28366 (upper right) This cluster of galaxies lies in the constellation of Andromeda a few degrees from the star Alpheratz in the northeast corner of the constellation Pegasus. It is at an estimated distance of 4 billion light-years, which means the light we are seeing from the cluster is as it appeared when the universe was roughly 2/3 of its present age. HST035528+09435 (lower right) At an estimated distance of about 7 to 10 billion light-years (z=1), this is one of the farthest clusters in the Hubble sample. The cluster lies in the constellation of Taurus. Credit: K. Ratnatunga, R. Griffiths (Carnegie Mellon University); and NASA Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: First Hypersonic Propulsion Hardware Delivered Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Michael Braukus Headquarters, Washington, DC August 27, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1979) Keith Henry Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (Phone: 757/864-6120) Kirsten Williams Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA (Phone: 805/258-2662) Anthony Castrogiovanni GASL, Inc., Ronkonkoma, NY (Phone: 516/737-6100 x128) Lowell Keel MicroCraft, Inc., Tullahoma, TN (Phone: 615/455-2617 x235) RELEASE: 98-154 FIRST HYPERSONIC PROPULSION HARDWARE DELIVERED A revolutionary new engine that ultimately may reduce the cost of putting payloads in orbit has been delivered to NASA for testing. The 30-inch long "scramjet" engine was fabricated by GASL, Inc., Ronkonkoma, NY, for the Hyper-X program, an ambitious research effort to demonstrate hypersonic propulsion technologies in flight. The engine is the first program hardware to be completed and will be used in high-speed ground tests at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA. An identical engine being fabricated now will be mated to its flight vehicle in February 1999 and delivered to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, leading to the first flight of the program in early 2000. The contract for flight and ground hardware is implemented for NASA by a team led by MicroCraft, Tullahoma TN, and including Boeing, Seal Beach, CA, and Accurate Automation, Chattanooga, TN. A second contract, to Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA, will provide rockets to boost the research vehicles to test altitude. Langley manages the five-year, approximately $170 million Hyper-X program, and Dryden is responsible for vehicle fabrication and flight tests. Three flights are planned -- two at Mach 7 and one at Mach 10 (seven and ten times the speed of sound). The flight tests will be conducted within the Western Test Range off the coast of southern California. Each of three planned vehicles will be flown once. Hyper-X vehicles, which have been designated X-43, will be boosted to their test point on the first stage of a modified Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus booster rocket and will be launched by NASA's B-52 from an altitude of 19,000 to 43,000 feet, depending upon the mission. For each flight, the booster will accelerate the X-43 to Mach 7 or 10 at altitudes up to 100,000 feet, where it will separate from the booster and fly under its own power. Mach 7 is approximately 5,000 mph at sea level. Mach 10 is approximately 7,200 mph at sea level. Hyper-X program managers hope to demonstrate "air- breathing" engine technologies that could ultimately be applied in vehicle types from hypersonic (Mach 5 and above) aircraft to reusable space launchers. By comparison, the high-flying SR-71 reconnaissance airplane, which flies more than Mach 3, is the fastest air-breathing aircraft to date. Although prior flight experiments conducted by the Russians using a rocket booster have demonstrated air- breathing engine operation at Mach 5 to 6 conditions, the X- 43 will be the first free-flying demonstration of an airframe-integrated, air-breathing engine and will extend the flight range to Mach 10. Extending air-breathing technologies to much greater speeds requires the development of scramjet engines, the type that will propel the research vehicles. Unlike a rocket, which must carry its own oxygen for combustion, an air- breathing aircraft burns oxygen in air scooped from the atmosphere. Air-breathing hypersonic vehicles therefore can be lighter and should carry more cargo/payload than equivalent rocket-powered systems. A ramjet engine operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft itself, as opposed to a conventional jet engine, in which the fan blades of the compressor section compress the air. A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet engine in which the airflow through the entire engine remains supersonic (faster than Mach 1 or the speed of sound). The fuel for the X-43 will be hydrogen. - end - Images of the Hyper-X/X-43 vehicle and additional information can be obtained at the following URLs: STILLS: http://lisar.larc.nasa.gov/LISAR/BROWSE/hyperx.html ANIMATION: http://lava.larc.nasa.gov/BROWSE/hyperx.html FACT SHEET: http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Hyper-X.html * * * Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Cassini Update - August 28, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... CASSINI SIGNIFICANT EVENTS FOR WEEK ENDING 8/28/98 Spacecraft Status: The most recent Spacecraft status is from the DSN tracking pass on Wednesday, 08/26, over Goldstone. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is executing the C9 sequence nominally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/today/) Spacecraft Activity Summary: On Wednesday, 08/26 the Solid State Recorder (SSR) record and playback pointers were reset. 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. Upcoming events: Activities scheduled for the week of 08/28 - 09/03 include: SSR FSW Partition Maintenance and SSR Pointer Reset, both performed on 9/02. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Space Frontier Conference 7 - Rates go up 10 September!! Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... SPACE FRONTIER CONFERENCE VII - "SPACE: THE REVOLUTION IS NOW! " October 9-11, 1998 Sheraton Gateway Hotel Los Angeles International Airport, CA There is a revolution underway in the opening of the greatest human frontier of all time! If you want to know what's really happening, then join the players who are opening the space frontier this Columbus Day weekend in Los Angeles. This conference is THE EVENT for anyone who wants to understand or become a part of the human breakout into space. This is your chance to hear from a cross-range of NASA and other government representatives, entrepreneurs, financiers, scientists and space media leaders, and to then decide what YOUR role will be in opening the space frontier. The conference is presented by the Space Frontier Foundation and is co-sponsored by: The Foundation for the Non-Governmental Development of Space (FINDS); ProSpace, the citizen's space lobby; and Rotary Rocket Company, an entrepreneurial space transportation company. A selected list of confirmed speakers includes: "The Washington Connection" * Congressman Dana Rohrabacher: Chairman of the House Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee * Joe Rothenberg: NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight * James Asker: Aviation Week and Space Technology, Washington Bureau Chief * Ralph Moslener: Manager of Space Station Commercialization for Boeing "The Entrepreneurs and Financiers" * Dr. Buzz Aldrin: CEO of Starcraft Boosters Inc. and Apollo 11 Astronaut * Shubber Ali: KPMG Peat Marwick * Joe Carroll: Tether Applications, Inc. * Mitchell Burnside Clapp: Executive Vice President of Pioneer Rocketplane * Charles "Pete" Conrad: Chairman of Universal Space Lines and Apollo 12 Astronaut * Gary Hudson: CEO of Rotary Rocket Company * Mike Kelly: Chairman, Kelly Space and Technology * Richard Smithies: Barclays Capital "The Scientists" * Dr. Alan Binder: Principal Investigator, Lunar Prospector Mission * Dr. Tom Gehrels: Director of Space Watch * Dr. Eleanor Helin: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Mount Palomar Observatory * Dr. John Lewis: University of Arizona & author of "Rain of Iron and Ice" & "Mining the Sky" * Dr. Harrison Schmitt: University of Wisconsin and Apollo 17 Astronaut * Dr. William "Red" Whittaker: Carnegie Mellon University Tele-Robotics "The Storytellers" * David Brin: Hugo Award winner, author of "The Postman" and "Startide Rising" * Dave Brody: "Inside Space, the Sci-Fi Channel * Rene Echevaria: Producer, Deep Space Nine, Paramount Studios * Allen Steele: Hugo Award winner, author of "Clarke County, Space", and "Lunar Descent" * Robert Weiss: Broadway Pictures, Paramount Studios THE CUT-OFF DATE FOR DISCOUNT ADMISSION IS SEPTEMBER 10, 1998. Full price details are: Admission before Sept. 10 after Sept. 10 General Admission* $90 $120 General Admission (student)* $70 $90 Friday luncheon $25 $25 Saturday luncheon $25 $25 Sunday luncheon $25 $25 Saturday Awards banquet $50 $50 Full Registration ** $180 $220 * includes receptions ** includes all events (a $35 and $25 savings, respectively) For a complete list of our speakers and agenda, and to register on-line, see our WWW page at <http://www.space-frontier.org> For other info: send email to conference@space-frontier.org or call 1-800-78-SPACE. Thank you. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - August 28, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT August 28, 1998 John McNamee Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager Mars Climate Orbiter: Orbiter integration and test activities continue to proceed on schedule. Mission System Testing of the launch/initialization phase was repeated very successfully on August 26 with a fault protection case causing a side swap inserted. The Mapping phase test conducted on August 22 was halted midway through the test due to a computer reset. This fault has now been duplicated in the Spacecraft Test Lab for the first time which provides promise that the root cause of this and previous resets will be determined. The orbiter is on schedule for shipment to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on September 10. The only remaining work on the orbiter prior to ship is the dry spin balance in vacuum scheduled for September 5. Mars Polar Lander: The lander is being assembled into the cruise configuration and is on schedule to begin cruise thermal vacuum testing on September 2. The backshell and cruise stage are installed and the spacecraft is scheduled to move to the thermal vacuum chamber on August 29. The lander pre-ship review is planned for September 15. Shipment to KSC is planned for October 12. For more information on the Mars Surveyor 98 mission, please visit our website at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/ Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NEAR Weekly Report for Aug. 28, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... NEAR WEEKLY REPORT August 28, 1998 MISSION OPERATIONS: The NEAR spacecraft state/configuration has remained nominal (Flight Computer #1 and Attitude Interface Unit #1 active). The Magnetometer and XGRS instruments have remained on throughout the reporting period. The XGRS high voltages were turned ON this week. The process was initiated on August 24; but due to DSN problems, the activity could not be completed until August 26. All operations were monitored by the XGRS instrument engineer. NEAR's attitude mode is presently alternating between GS-4 (Earth pointing) during high gain antenna tracks and GS-5 (~Sun pointing) at all other times. The GS-5 off-sun pointing limit remains at 10 deg. Onboard image and attitude data recorded during the August 19 test of a quick turnaround OpNav system was replayed on August 26 to allow further investigation regarding the missing attitude data. Once again, the attitude data replayed was NOT archived in the MOC. This problem is continuing to be investigated and will be re-tested with a flight test on September 23. Time tagged commanding of both Solid State Recorders (SSR) continued this week. All science data was successfully recorded and played back this week with the exception of a short span from 238/193727 to 238/194913 when recorder #2 record operations were interrupted briefly for the OpNav test. Testing and review of reusable command sequences continued this week. Continued refinement of Eros operations practices and processes. The new Flight Computer (FC) software was delivered to Mission Operations this week for loading on the brassboard. Further testing of the FC software will continue next week. Future Plans: An EROS Mission Operations Review will be held at JHU/APL on September 9. An Agenda will be transmitted from the Project Office. Continuing with planned MOC ground system reconfiguration and establishment of independent test system (new third Front End Processor with brassboard outside firewall). Ground system freeze date is October 1. Continuing with testing and review of command fragments and operational use of Seq_Gen in production of weekly cruise phase command loads. Goal is to operate NEAR in a manner as similar as possible as that planned for asteroid operations next year. Upcoming Spacecraft Activities: September TBD: Flight Computer (FC) s/w upload September TBD: Momentum Dump testing w/new FC s/w October 14: TCM 15 w/new FC s/w Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 31 августа 1998 (1998-08-31) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Sky & Telescope News Bulletin - August 28, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN AUGUST 28, 1998 SUBARU MIRROR COMPLETED The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) announced today that the mirror for the Subaru Telescope being built atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea has been finished. The 8.3-meter-diameter, 20-centimeter-thick piece of polished Corning Ultra Low Expansion (ULE) glass is the largest monolithic optical-infrared mirror in the world, surpassing the 8.2-meter mirrors of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. (However, the Subaru mirror will have an effective mirror surface of 8.2 meters.) Testing of the Subaru mirror revealed that errors in the surface are no more than 12 nanometers (12 millionths of a millimeter) over its surface. The 22.8-metric-ton primary mirror will be moved from outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Mauna Kea over the next few weeks, arriving in Hawaii by the end of October. Subaru's "first light" is expected in January. HUBBLE REVEALS MORE DISTANT GALAXY CLUSTERS On the heels of the announcement on August 19th, when an Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer revealed a distant and massive galaxy cluster, another team of astronomers has turned up more faraway associations. Some results of a six-year-long survey of distant galaxies by Hubble were announced on August 27th. The so-called Medium Deep Survey, led by Richard Griffiths (Carnegie Mellon University), has found nearly 100 new clusters of ga