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Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Mailing List Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... MARS SURVEYOR 98 MAILING LIST The Mars Surveyor 98 status reports and press releases are now available via email (subscription instructions appended below). Join us on our journey to Mars, both in orbit around the red planet and also from the surface of the red planet. Following in the footsteps of Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder, the two Mars Surveyor 98 spacecraft will take advantage of the 1998 launch opportunity to Mars which is available every 26 months. The "Volatiles and Climate History" theme for the 1998 Mars Surveyor missions was recommended by the Mars Science Working Group and is aligned directly with NASA''s Mars exploration strategy for the next decade focusing on: Evidence of past or present life, Climate, and Resources. MARS CLIMATE ORBITER The 1998 orbiter mission (Mars Climate Orbiter) is scheduled for launch in in December 1998 and will arrive in orbit around Mars in September 1999. The orbiter will carry a rebuilt version of the Mars Observer Pressure Modulated Infrared Radiometer (PMIRR) with Dr. Daniel McCleese of JPL as Principal Investigator, and the Mars Color Imaging (MARCI) system with Dr. Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) as Principal Investigator. PMIRR will observe the global distribution and time variation of temperature, pressure, dust, water vapor, and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. MARCI will observe synoptically Martian atmospheric processes at global scale and study details of the interaction of the atmosphere with the surface at a variety of scales in both space and time. In addition to the science payload, the orbiter spacecraft will provide an on-orbit data relay capability for future U.S. and/or international surface stations. MARS POLAR LANDER For the first time ever, we will be landing in the polar regions of Mars with the Mars Polar Lander. Scheduled for launch in January 1999, the spacecraft will land on Mars in December 1999. The science complement for the 1998 lander includes: the Mars Volatile and Climate Surveyor (MVACS) integrated lander payload with Dr. David Paige of UCLA as Principal Investigator, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) with Dr. Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems as Principal Investigator, and an atmospheric lidar experiment provided by the Russian Space Agency Institute for Space Science. Dr. Paige's integrated lander payload includes a Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) with Mars Pathfinder heritage; a meteorology package (MET); an instrumented robotic arm (RA) for sample acquisition, soil manipulation, and close up imaging of the surface and subsurface; and the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analysis (TEGA) experiment for determining the nature and abundance of volatile material in the Martian soil. The descent images obtained by MARDI while the lander spacecraft descends to the surface will establish the geological and physical context of the landing site. The atmospheric lidar experiment will determine the dust content of the Martian atmosphere above the landing site. DEEP SPACE 2 MICROPROBES Piggybacking on the Mars 98 lander are two small microprobes. Separating from the lander just prior to entry into the Martian atmosphere, the two microprobes will slam into the surface of Mars at a velocity of 200 meters per second. The aeroshell on each probe will shatter to release the science package which will penetrate up to 2 meters into the soil. The microprobes will determine if water ice is present in the Martian subsurface, and will also measure the temperature and monitor the local Martian weather. SUBSCRIBING TO THE MARS SURVEYOR 98 MAILING LIST Here is how to subscribe to the Mars 98 mailing list: Send email to majordomo@sender.jpl.nasa.gov and include the following text in the body of the message: subscribe mars98 You can leave the subject field blank. You will receive an automatic confirmation message and a welcome message. If you wish to unsubscribe to the Mars 98 mailing list, send email to majordomo@sender.jpl.nasa.gov with the following text in the body of the message: unsubscribe mars98 Ron Baalke Mars Surveyor 98 Webmaster ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ Pasadena, CA | Two wrongs don't make a right, /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| | but two Wrights made an |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | airplane. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Latest Lunar Prospector Findings Indicate Larger Amounts Of Polar Wate Subject: Latest Lunar Prospector Findings Indicate Larger Amounts Of Polar Wate Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Douglas Isbell Headquarters, Washington, DC September 3, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1753) David Morse Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (Phone: 650/604-4724) RELEASE: 98-158 LATEST LUNAR PROSPECTOR FINDINGS INDICATE LARGER AMOUNTS OF POLAR WATER ICE The north and south poles of the Moon may contain up to six billion metric tons of water ice, a more than ten-fold increase over previous estimates, according to scientists working with data from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission. Growing evidence now suggests that water ice deposits of relatively high concentration are trapped beneath the soil in the permanently shadowed craters of both lunar polar regions. The researchers believe that alternative explanations, such as concentrations of hydrogen from the solar wind, are unlikely. Mission scientists also report the detection of strong, localized magnetic fields; delineation of new mass concentrations on the surface; and the mapping of the global distribution of major rock types, key resources and trace elements. In addition, there are strong suggestions that the Moon has a small, iron-rich core. The new findings are published in the Sept. 4 issue of Science magazine. "The Apollo program gave us an excellent picture of the Moon's basic structure and its regional composition, along with some hints about its origin and evolution," said Dr. Carl Pilcher, science director for Solar System exploration in NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. "Lunar Prospector is now expanding that knowledge into a global perspective. The indications of water ice at the poles are tantalizing and likely to spark spirited debate among lunar scientists." In March, mission scientists reported a water signal with a minimum abundance of one percent by weight of water ice in rocky lunar soil (regolith) corresponding to an estimated total of 300 million metric tons of ice at the Moon's poles. "We based those earlier, conscientiously conservative estimates on graphs of neutron spectrometer data, which showed distinctive dips over the lunar polar regions," said Dr. Alan Binder of the Lunar Research Institute, Gilroy, CA, the Lunar Prospector principal investigator. "This indicated significant hydrogen enrichment, a telltale signature of the presence of water ice. "Subsequent analysis, combined with improved lunar models, shows conclusively that there is hydrogen at the Moon's poles," Binder said. "Though other explanations are possible, we interpret the data to mean that significant quantities of water ice are located in permanently shadowed craters in both lunar polar regions. "The data do not tell us definitively the form of the water ice," Binder added. "However, if the main source is cometary impacts, as most scientists believe, our expectation is that we have areas at both poles with layers of near-pure water ice." In fact, the new analysis "indicates the presence of discrete, confined, near-pure water ice deposits buried beneath as much as 18 inches (40 centimeters) of dry regolith, with the water signature being 15 percent stronger at the Moon's north pole than at the south." How much water do scientists believe they have found? "It is difficult to develop a numerical estimate," said Dr. William Feldman, co-investigator and spectrometer specialist at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM. "However, we calculate that each polar region may contain as much as three billion metric tons of water ice." Feldman noted he had cautioned that earlier estimates "could be off by a factor of ten," due to the inadequacy of existing lunar models. The new estimate is well within reason, he added, since it is still "one to two orders of magnitude less than the amount of water predicted as possibly delivered to, and retained on, the Moon by comets," according to earlier projections by Dr. Jim Arnold of the University of California at San Diego. In other results, data from Lunar Prospector's gamma ray spectrometer have been used to develop the first global maps of the Moon's elemental composition. The maps delineate large compositional variations of thorium, potassium and iron over the lunar surface, providing insights into the Moon's crust as it was formed. The distribution of thorium and potassium on the Moon's near side supports the idea that some portion of materials rich in these trace elements was scattered over a large area as a result of ejection by asteroid and comet impacts. While its magnetic field is relatively weak and not global in nature like those of most planets, the Moon does contain magnetized rocks on its upper surface, according to data from Lunar Prospector's magnetometer and electron reflectometer. The resultant strong, local magnetic fields create the two smallest known magnetospheres in the Solar System. "The Moon was previously interpreted as just an unmagnetized body without a major effect on what is going on in the solar wind," explained Dr. Mario Acuna, a member of the team located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. "We are discovering that there is nothing simple about the Moon as an obstacle to this continuous flow of electrically charged gas from the Sun." These mini-magnetospheres are located diametrically opposite to large impact basins on the lunar surface, leading scientists to conclude that the magnetic regions formed as the result of these titanic impacts. One theory is that these impacts produced a cloud of electrically charged gas that expanded around the Moon in about five minutes, compressing and amplifying the pre-existing, primitive ambient magnetic field on the opposite side. This field was then "frozen" into the surface crust and retained as the Moon's then-molten core solidified and the global field vanished. Using data from Prospector's doppler gravity experiment, scientists have developed the first precise gravity map of the entire lunar surface. In the process, they have discovered seven previously unknown mass concentrations, lava-filled craters on the lunar surface known to cause gravitational anomalies. Three are located on the Moon's near side and four on its far side. This new, high-quality information will help engineers determine the long-term, altitude-related behavior of lunar-orbiting spacecraft, and more accurately assess fuel needs for possible future Moon missions. Finally, Lunar Prospector data suggests that the Moon has a small, iron-rich core approximately 186 miles (300 kilometers) in radius, which is toward the smaller end of the range predicted by most current theories. "This theory seems to best fit the available data and models, but it is not a unique fit," cautioned Binder. "We will be able to say much more about this when we get magnetic data related to core size later in the mission." Ultimately, a precise figure for the core size will help constrain models of how the Moon originally formed. Lunar Prospector was launched on Jan. 6, 1998, aboard a Lockheed Martin Athena 2 solid-fuel rocket and entered lunar orbit on Jan. 11. After a one-year primary mission orbiting the Moon at a height of approximately 63 miles (100 kilometers), mission controllers plan to the lower the spacecraft's orbit substantially to obtain detailed measurements. The $63 million mission is managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Further information about Lunar Prospector, its science data return, and relevant charts and graphics can be found on the project website at: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Mars Surveyor 98 Update - September 4, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 1998 MARS SURVEYOR PROJECT STATUS REPORT September 4, 1998 John McNamee Mars Surveyor 98 Project Manager Mars Climate Orbiter: Orbiter integration and test activities continue to proceed on schedule. The dry spin balance (both in vacuum and in air) was conducted successfully on September 1. The ground support equipment arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF-2) on September 2 and all KSC activities are on track to support the orbiter arrival on September 10. Mars Polar Lander: The lander is in the cruise configuration (cruise stage, backshell, and heat shield installed) in the thermal vacuum chamber. Chamber pump down began on September 1 and the cruise thermal vacuum testing is proceeding as planned with completion scheduled for September 5. 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: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Projects Selected For Commercial Use Of Remote Sensing Data Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington, DC September 4, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1730) Lanee Cooksey Stennis Space Center, MS (Phone: 228/688-3341) RELEASE: 98-159 PROJECTS SELECTED FOR COMMERCIAL USE OF REMOTE SENSING DATA The Commercial Remote Sensing program office at NASA's Stennis Space Center, MS, has selected ten projects that could lead to new commercial uses of advanced sensors. The projects are being developed through the Earth Observations Commercial Applications Program-Hyperspectral (EOCAP-Hyperspectral). The program is designed to increase the use of NASA technology for gathering and analyzing information about the Earth through sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites. EOCAP- Hyperspectral will define the technology gaps that prohibit or impede the use of hyperspectral data and recommend solutions for filling those gaps. "This is the type of partnership between NASA and value-added industry that the NASA Earth Science program is forging. We want to emphasize investments of NASA sponsored technologies to demonstrate benefits of our program towards solving practical societal problems while promoting a healthy commercial remote sensing industry in the U.S.," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth Sciences, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. EOCAP-Hyperspectral is managed by the Commercial Remote Sensing program office at Stennis. Its role in commercial activities is to provide financial and technical support to companies for two to three years in areas of remote sensing activities where there is substantial market risk in matching science and technology with commercial demand. The projects support technical, market and business innovation to develop new products or services that serve emerging domestic and international markets. Selected proposals, in addition to high technical competence, typically exhibit the following traits: strong business and marketing plans; product advisory boards to guide the product and or service development; and substantial financial commitments to the projects by the companies. The recipients of the 1998 EOCAP-Hyperspectral project awards are: * Eastman Kodak - Rochester, NY * United States Department of Agriculture - Beltsville, MD * Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies - Bozeman, MT * Applied Analysis - Billerica, MA * Cal State-Monterey Bay - Seaside, CA * Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems - Seattle, WA * GDE Systems, Inc. - San Diego, CA * MTL Systems, Inc. - Beavercreek, OH * Opto Knowledge Systems, Inc. (OKSI) - Torrance, CA * Spectral International - Arvada, CO The overall focus of the program is to expand the acceptance and use of remote sensing technology in the marketplace. Historically, the program has emphasized product development from a technical perspective. The program's new direction is to ally market knowledge with technical capability to guide product development based on customers' needs. EOCAP responds to known buyer needs by collaborating with commercial firms to develop enhanced geographic information products, incorporating advanced remote sensing and associated technologies. The program is sponsored by NASA's Earth Science enterprise which studies the total Earth system and demonstrates the benefits of new technologies and scientific knowledge through practical applications. -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Accepts "Keys" To First US-Built Station Component Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Dwayne C. Brown September 4, 1998 Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1726) James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (Phone: 281/483-5111) RELEASE: 98-160 NASA ACCEPTS "KEYS" TO FIRST U.S.-BUILT STATION COMPONENT The Unity connecting module, the first U.S.-built component of the International Space Station, moved a step closer to orbit this week when Boeing, the manufacturer of Unity, officially handed over the module's "keys" to NASA. NASA officially accepted the module after review and certification of Unity's construction by NASA and Boeing station managers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL. Unity is scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-88 mission on Dec. 3. Unity will be launched two weeks after the first station component, the U.S.-funded, Russian-built Zarya module, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. Unity will be mated to Zarya by Endeavour's astronauts to begin the five-year orbital assembly of the International Space Station. Unity is a critical component of the International Space Station, a six-sided connector with a berthing port on each side. Along with Unity at Kennedy, more than a half-dozen major pieces of U.S. and foreign-built hardware are now being prepared for launch. "It is not by chance that we named this module Unity," International Space Station program manager Randy Brinkley said following the review. "The name certainly represents all of the hard work by the Boeing teams and the NASA teams, as well as the worldwide space station team. The Unity module has been a great joint effort." Unity was manufactured by Boeing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. It was transported from Alabama to Florida in June 1997, where final assembly and launch preparations began. Attached to Unity for launch are two conical mating adapters, also built by Boeing and officially accepted by NASA this week. As the Unity acceptance review board completed its official work, Royce Mitchell, Boeing's ISS deputy program manager, handed his NASA counterparts plaques bearing a replica of a tool used to open the hatches on Unity and a symbolic "key" to the module. The International Space Station draws upon the resources and expertise of 16 nations and is the largest and most complex international scientific project ever undertaken. Five international partners -- the United States; Canada; member states of the European Space Agency; Japan and Russia; as well as Brazil and Italy as participants through the United States -- are working together in a joint endeavor to explore space for the benefit of all humankind. -end- Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA Contracts For Future Space Transportation Studies Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Sarah Keegan Headquarters, Washington, DC September 4, 1998 (Phone: 202/358-1902) RELEASE : c98-n NASA CONTRACTS FOR FUTURE SPACE TRANSPORTATION STUDIES NASA has selected five companies to perform space transportation architecture studies. These studies will develop approaches to meet the agency's future human space flight requirements with significant reductions in cost. The industry-led studies will provide information to support future policy decisions determining if the Space Shuttle system should be replaced: if so, when; if not, what upgrade strategy is required to continue safe and affordable Space Shuttle flight. The companies selected for the one-year study contracts were: Boeing Information, Space, and Defense Systems, Seal Beach, CA; Kelly Space and Technology, San Bernardino, CA; Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, CO; Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, VA; and Space Access, LLC, Palmdale, CA. The study contracts will involve different numbers of tasks and will range in value from $1-2 million each. The studies will assess architectures that offer potential cost savings, including future scenarios that keep the Space Shuttle operational until 2020 and replace the Space Shuttle when cost-effective, and will develop an architecture that assumes NASA's current funding level for space transportation. These studies will identify the government marginal investment necessary for the commercial launch industry to meet NASA's launch requirements. More information on the Space Transportation Architecture study activity can be found on the Internet at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codea/codeae/sta_study.html - end - Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Cassini Update - September 4, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov Cassini Mission Status September 4, 1998 The Cassini spacecraft remains in excellent health on its voyage to Saturn. Spacecraft operations have been normal with most tasks focused on routine maintenance activities. Early last month, the Cassini Program reduced -- earlier than planned -- the number of Deep Space Network communications antennas needed to collect navigation ranging data on the spacecraft, at least through the end of the calendar year. This frees up valuable time on the powerful 70-meter antennas for use by other space exploration projects. The Cassini program had been using 34-meter and 70-meter antennas in tandem at each of the three Deep Space Network complexes for spacecraft telecommunications and for gathering navigation ranging data on the spacecraft's position. But because of better-than-predicted ranging system performance and an improving telecommunications link due to the relative positions of Earth and Cassini, the 70-meter stations currently are not needed to augment the spacecraft ranging data collected with the 34-meter antennas. As the geometry between Earth and Cassini further improves, the program will temporarily give up the use of the 70-meter antennas for telecommunications, and will rely solely on the 34-meter antennas for an as-yet-undetermined period of time. Today, Cassini is traveling at about 81,770 kilometers per hour (about 50,800 miles per hour) and has traveled more than 900 million kilometers (about 560 million miles). Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Mars Global Surveyor Update - September 4, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Mars Global Surveyor Project Status Report Overview Prepared by Mars Surveyor Operations Project Manager NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Friday 4 September 1998 The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft continues to acquire science data with the Mars Orbiter Camera, the Thermal Emission Spectrometer and the Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer in its next to last week in the science phasing orbit. Data was returned from the third Phobos observation. A press release is anticipated on or about September 10th which will detail the results from the recent Phobos observations. The first of the weekly strategic planning sessions for aerobraking phase 2 was held. The MGS propulsion system will be re-pressurized next Wednesday to ready it for the major maneuvers required to return MGS to the Martian atmosphere. At the same time that it is flying MGS, the flight team is also preparing for the operational readiness testing that will validate its capabilities to operate the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander to be launch later this year. Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Sky & Telescope News Bulletin - September 4, 1998 Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 4, 1998 SOHO BLAME CAST While flight controllers continue to resuscitate the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the final report from the joint NASA and ESA committee investigating the loss of contact with the spacecraft was released on August 31st. The board concluded that the spacecraft had no onboard malfunctions and that the blame for the signal loss on June 25th rested firmly with controllers who failed to properly monitor the spacecraft's condition and who also turned off a gyroscope that disabled the spacecraft's autonomous recovery system. Furthermore, once contact was lost, the operations team did not take enough time to understand the status of the spacecraft before trying to recover it. The report also recommends that NASA and ESA thoroughly review SOHO control operations, and complete the internal review before the observatory begins making scientific observations again. The scientists should have sufficient time to accomplish this. Presently, a month after contact was reestablished with SOHO, onboard batteries have been charged enough to thaw the hydrazine fuel tank, but the lines to the attitude-controlling thrusters are still frozen. MOON-SICLE, ANYONE? New results from NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft offer a very strong case that an estimated 6 billion tons of water ice lies hidden in permanently shadowed regions at the Moon's north and south poles. That is some 20 times the total amount derived last March based on only two months of data. Perhaps more importantly, the new findings suggest that the water is fairly concentrated, perhaps as discrete icy slabs, packed in less than 2,000 square km of total area rather than March's estimate of 15,000 to 70,000 square km. The strongest signals correspond to the poleward-facing inner walls of the craters Peary, Hermite, Rozhdestvenskiy, and Plaskett near the lunar north pole, and to areas inside the giant South Pole-Aitken basin in the south. Prospector scientists believe the ice deposits are buried beneath a desiccated layer of crushed rock, or regolith, about 40 centimeters (16 inches) thick. Lunar Prospector does not detect the water ice directly but rather infers its presence by recording neutrons that have interacted with the nuclei of hydrogen atoms. The strong, concentrated signature makes it unlikely that the hydrogen could be solar-wind particles trapped in the regolith. The icy news appears in the September 4th issue of the journal *Science,* which contains other important Lunar Prospector reports. For example, investigators now believe the Moon has a small iron-rich core about 600 km across. The existence of such a core had remained uncertain for decades, despite dozens of lunar missions during the 1960s and '70s. Moreover, magnetometer data show that the areas directly opposite the Imbrium and Serentatis impact basins (and perhaps Frigoris) have weak but significant magnetic fields. The Moon is not intrinsically magnetic today, but it may well have been in the distant past. Apparently, following these basin-forming impacts, plasma in outward-racing fireballs caused magnetic-field lines to bunch up at the locations diametrically opposite the impact sites, where they somehow became "frozen" into the surface rocks. First detected during the Apollo missions, these remnant fields remain today and create "mini-magnetospheres" that may be shielding portions of the surface from direct impingement of the solar wind. SATURDAY MORNING PENUMBRAL ECLIPSE Speaking of the Moon, our satellite skims through the fringe of the Earth's shadow for a penumbral lunar eclipse on the morning of September 6th. The western regions of North America have a good view. Look for a slight shading on the Moon's northern (upper right) edge around 5:10 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time, 4:10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The Moon will be shining in the western sky, with Jupiter to its upper left. A WEEK UNTIL ALDEBARAN OCCULTATION The Moon is also a player for a celestial event next weekend. Before dawn on Saturday, September 12th, the nearly last-quarter Moon occults Aldebaran for much of the eastern and southern United States. For your local predictions see the September *Sky & Telescope,* page 112, or http://www.skypub.com/occults/aldebaran/980912a.html. COMET WILLIAMS IN THE DEEP SOUTH Comet Williams (C/1998 P1) remains the brightest comet in the sky at about 8th magnitude, but it remains essentially a sight for Southern-Hemisphere observers. It continues to move north through Centaurus. According to Charles Morris (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), by late November, the comet will be visible from both hemispheres at about 10th magnitude. Here are positions for Comet Williams for 0 hours Universal Time (2000.0 coordinates) for the coming week: R.A. Dec. September 5 13h 44m -42.1 deg. September 7 13h 42m -41.0 deg. September 9 13h 41m -39.9 deg. THIS WEEK'S "SKY AT A GLANCE" Some daily events in the changing sky, from the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE. SEPT. 6 -- SUNDAY * Tonight the Moon passes just below Jupiter as seen from North (and Central) America. They'll make a lovely pairing together in the sky. As seen from the southern part of South America, the Moon crosses right over Jupiter for a splendid occultation. * The eclipsing variable star Algol should be in one of its periodic dimmings, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 10:43 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It takes several additional hours to fade and brighten. For a full listing of Algol's predicted minima through next winter, see http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/algol.html. * Regulus is about 1.2 degrees from both Mercury and Venus at dawn Monday morning. SEPT. 7 -- MONDAY * Jupiter's Great Red Spot (actually very pale tan) should cross the planet's central meridian -- the line down the center of Jupiter's disk from pole to pole -- around 9:42 p.m. EDT. For a listing of all predicted Red Spot transit times through next February, see http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/redspot.html. * Regulus is 1.2 degrees to Mercury's upper right at dawn Tuesday morning. SEPT. 8 -- TUESDAY * Look straight up as twilight fades (assuming you live in the world's north temperate latitudes). The brightest star overhead is Vega, a white star 25 light-years away that's bigger, hotter, and brighter than the Sun. SEPT. 9 -- WEDNESDAY * Saturn shines to the upper right of the Moon after they rise late this evening. * Jupiter's Red Spot should transit around 11:20 p.m. EDT. * Tonight the 10th-magnitude asteroid 1036 Ganymed will occult a 10th-magnitude orange star close to Alpha Persei. During the occultation, which could last up to 4 seconds, the combined light of the star and asteroid will drop by only 0.9 magnitude. The occultation should be visible along a narrow path crossing the southern United States within a few minutes of 6:28 Universal Time September 10th in southern California and 6:32 UT near the Carolinas. See the finder chart in the September Sky & Telescope, page 114, or at http://www.skypub.com/occults/occults.html. SEPT. 10 -- THURSDAY * During dawn Friday, look for Mercury only 0.4 degree left of Venus. They're very low in the east as dawn brightens. Binoculars give a fine view! SEPT. 11 -- FRIDAY * Jupiter's Red Spot should transit around 12:58 a.m. EDT Saturday morning. * Before dawn Saturday morning, the nearly last-quarter Moon occults Aldebaran for much of the eastern and southern United States. For your local predictions see the September Sky & Telescope, page 112, or http://www.skypub.com/occults/aldebaran/980912a.html. SEPT. 12 -- SATURDAY * Last-quarter Moon (exact at 9:58 p.m. EDT). * Jupiter's Red Spot should transit around 8:49 p.m. EDT. THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP MERCURY appears very close to much brighter Venus all week. VENUS (magnitude -3.9) shines very low in the east during dawn. Fainter Mercury is close by, and early in the week so is Regulus (still fainter). MARS glows rather far to Venus's upper right in the dawn. Mars is magnitude +1.7, only about 1/175 as bright as Venus. JUPITER is the brilliant "star" (magnitude -2.9) shining in the southeast during evening. It gets high in the south by about midnight and is low in the west at dawn. Jupiter comes to opposition on the night of September 15th. SATURN rises around 9 or 9:30 p.m. It's the brightest "star" (magnitude 0.0) far to Jupiter's lower left by 10 p.m. and later. The two planets appear 40 degrees apart (about 4 fist-widths at arm's length), on opposite ends of dim Pisces. URANUS and NEPTUNE, magnitudes 5.7 and 7.9 respectively, are in Capricornus in the south during evening. See the finder chart in the September Sky & Telescope, page 110. PLUTO, magnitude 13.8, is near the Ophiuchus-Scorpius border in the southwest right after dark. See the finder chart in the May Sky & Telescope, page 97. Charts for Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are also at http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/urnepl98.html. (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 Daylight Time, EDT, equals Universal Time minus 4 hours.) More details, sky maps, and news of other celestial events appear each month in SKY & TELESCOPE, the essential magazine of astronomy. See our enormous Web site at http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies! SKY & TELESCOPE, P.O. Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02478 * 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 Sky at a Glance are available via electronic mailing list too. For a free subscription, send e-mail to skyline@corvus.com and put the word "join" on the first line of the body of the message. To unsubscribe, send e-mail to skyline@corvus.com and put the word "unjoin" on the first line of the body of the message. SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy, is read by more than 200,000 enthusiasts each month. It is available on newsstands worldwide. For subscription information, or for a free copy of our catalog of fine astronomy books and products, please contact Sky Publishing Corp., P.O. Box 9111, Belmont, MA 02478-9111, U.S.A. Phone: 800-253-0245 (U.S. and Canada); 617-864-7360 (International). Fax: 617-864-6117. E-mail: custserv@skypub.com. SKY Online: http://www.skypub.com/. Clear skies! Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Reseacher Suspects Liquid Water on Mars Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Reseacher Suspects Liquid Water on Mars San Diego - September 1, 1998 - Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, Mars Viking Experimenter, claims that his studies reveal water exists on the Red Planet's surface in sufficient amounts to sustain microbial life. His findings (http://biospherics.com/mars/spie2/spie98.htm) were presented to the Annual Meeting of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) in San Diego in early July. Dr. Levin, President of Biospherics in Beltsville, Maryland, shared authorship with his son, Dr. Ron Levin, physicist at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Boston. The importance of the study, Dr. Gilbert Levin said, is that it clinches the case that his Viking LR experiment found life on Mars in 1976, a conclusion that he announced in 1997. In recent years, all arguments against the LR experiment had been eliminated except the claim that there was no life-requiring liquid water on the surface of the Red Planet. Last February, in discussing Mars against the background of startling new findings of life in hostile Earth environments, Dr. Wesley Huntress, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, said: "We used to think that life was fragile, but wherever liquid water and chemical energy are found, there is life. There is no exception. Life may be a cosmic imperative." Dr. Levin described a dynamic daily cycle on Mars in which the extreme cold of the Martian atmosphere greatly restricts its ability to hold water vapor. Thus, the scant water vapor on Mars is forced down to the surface, where it is deposited in frozen form. As the sun rises, the ice melts, but its evaporation is restricted by the low vapor capacity of the overlying cold atmosphere. Levin cited Pathfinder's results to show that the atmosphere immediately above the surface warms considerably, equaling a spring day on Earth, but, just a couple of feet above the surface, temperatures are sub-freezing. The warmed surface layer of air absorbs water vapor until saturated. No more water can then evaporate from the surface, and the ice remaining there melts into liquid water. As the sun mounts, the temperature of the atmosphere above the surface warms sufficiently to permit any remaining water and ice to evaporate. However, during this daily cycle, the soil has been moistened with enough water to sustain microorganisms. Dr. Levin explained: "Based on Viking and Pathfinder data, and consistent with the principles of thermodynamics of the triple point of water, a model has been created for a diurnal water cycle on Mars. The model predicts the presence of several tenths of a percent to one percent water moisture in the topmost layer of the surface material over large regions of Mars. Images taken by the Viking Lander cameras show nightly deposits of surface water frost, even snow, verifying the prediction of the model. Terrestrial experiments in natural environments, including the Death Valley sand dunes of California, demonstrated that the amount of soil water moisture predicted by the model is sufficient to sustain survival and growth of common soil microorganisms." Levin states: "This model removes the final constraint preventing acceptance of the biological interpretation of the Viking LR Mars data as having detected living microorganisms in the soil of Mars. It comes at a time when a growing body of evidence from the Earth and space are supporting the presence of life not only on Mars, but on many celestial bodies." As a result, Levin pressed for early Mars biology missions, none of which is currently planned by NASA, to verify and study life forms, and for caution in current plans for returning a Mars sample to Earth. Under its motto, "Technologies for Information and Health," Biospherics' mission is to provide guidance and products to improve the quality of life. In addition to its BioTechnology unit, the Company offers telecommunications and database management information, and proprietary environmental, food and medical innovations. Biospherics <http://biospherics.com/> September 1, 1998: Living Earth microbes recovered from 1967 moon lander Surveyor 3 by Apollo 12 may the most significant thing ever found on the Moon. full story at NASA's Space Science News <http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast01sep98_1.htm> Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: 2 сентября в подмосковных Химках прошло торжественное собрание... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... 2 сентября в подмосковных Химках прошло торжественное собрание, посвященное памяти Валентина Петровича Глушко 2 сентября в подмосковных Химках в ДК "Родина" прошло торжественное собрание, посвященное памяти одного из пионеров российской космонавтики, главного конструктора ракетных двигателей академика Валентина Петровича Глушко, которому в этот день исполняется 90 лет. Перед собравшимися выступили генеральный директор HПО "Энергомаш" Борис Иванович Каторгин, рассказавший о жизненном пути замечательного конструктора, генеральный директор Российского космического агентства Юрий Hиколаевич Коптев, поздравивший коллектив HПО "Энергомаш" с юбилеем бывшего руководителя объединения, руководители других предприятий космической отрасли, соратники академика. Состоялся премьерный показ документального фильма "Мастер огня" о Валентине Петровиче Глушко. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Японским специалистам удалось состыковать "непослушные" спутники Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Японским специалистам удалось состыковать "непослушные" спутники Японским специалистам с третьей попытки удалось произвести стыковку спутников "Orihame" и "Hikoboshi". Аппараты, совершавшие полет как единое целое, были расстыкованы 7 августа и через 1,5 часа автономного полета должны были вновь состыковаться. Однако неполадки в системе управления спутников не позволили завершить запланированный эксперимент. Вторая попытка стыковка была предпринята 18 августа, но также закончилась неудачей. Лишь третья попытка, предпринятая 1 сентября, увенчалась успехом. Специалисты планируют проанализировать сбои в работе системы управления полетом и на основании этих данных решить вопрос о дальнейших экспериментах по расстыковке-стыковке спутников. Космические аппараты были выведены на околоземную орбиту 27 нояьря 1997 года в качестве дополнительной нагрузки к спутнику "TRMM". 7 июля 1998 года был осуществлен первый эксперимент по расстыковке-стыковке, который прошел без замечаний. Вторая попытка оказалась не столь успешной. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: NASA опубликовала снимки урагана Bonnie Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... NASA опубликовала снимки урагана Bonnie NASA опубликовала снимки урагана Bonnie, полученные с помощью фотокамер спутника "TRMM", исследующего тропические ураганы. В настоящий момент ураган Bonnie находится над Атлантикой и его сила постепенно угасает. Снимки были сделаны 22 августа в период, когда ураган достиг своей максимальной мощности, и демонстрируют все слои урагана от самого верхнего до самого низкого. Это впервые, когда в руки специалистов попали фотографии, позволяющие изучить весь срез слоев урагана. По своей высоте ураган в два раза превышает высоту Эвереста. Спутник "TRMM" был запущен 27 ноября 1997 года и с тех пор уже провел исследования более 100 тропических циклонов. Hаиболее детальным исследованиям подвергся ураган Bonnie. Специалисты NASA продолжают обработку собранной информации. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hовые назначения в NASA Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Hовые назначения в NASA Директор NASA Daniel Goldin сообщил о новых назначениях в NASA. Hа должность главного советника директора NASA (Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator) 14 августа был назначен Alan Ladwig. В его обязанности будет входить связь с прессой и общественностью. Alan Ladwig также займется подготовкой празднования 40-й годовщины со дня основания NASA, которая будет отмечаться 1 октября нынешнего года. Alan Ladwig работает в NASA с 1981 года. Hа должность представителя директора NASA в законодательных органах (Associate Administrator NASA for Legislative Affairs) 28 августа назначен Edward Hefferman. Ему предстоит поддерживать связь с администрацией Белого дома и Конгрессом США. Edward Hefferman работает в NASA с 1994 года. В 1992 году он баллотировался в палату представителей американского Конгресса, но не был избран. Hа должность представителя директора NASA для определения политики агентства (Acting Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans) 28 августа назначена Lori Garver. Она работает в NASA с 1996 года и ей предстоит участвоать в разработке стратегии деятельности агентства и в составлении планов. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Причиной аварии ракеты-носителя "Titan-4A" 12 августа стал перерыв... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Причиной аварии ракеты-носителя "Titan-4A" 12 августа стал перерыв в электроснабжении Согласно предварительным данным, которые вчера огласила комиссия по расследованию причин аварии ракеты-носителя "Titan-4A" 12 августа нынешнего года, катастрофа произошла из-за перерыва в электроснабжении бортовой аппаратуры на этапе выведения. Как удалось установить, через 39,4 секунды после старта на доли секунды на борту пропало напряжение в электросетях. Когда ток вновь потек по электросетям, система управления выдала команду, которая заставила ракету отклониться вправо и вниз от траектории. Через 41,3 секунды после старта автоматически была выдана команда на отключение одного из твердотопливных ускорителей для выравнивания курса ракеты. Это вызвало еще большее отклонение курса от расчетного. Четырьмя секундами позже с Земли на борт была послана команда на аварийный подрыв, чтобы избежать падения обломков ракеты на прибрежные районы штата Флорида. Все обломки упали в Атлантический океан в нескольких километрах от побережья. Теперь комиссии предстоит выяснить, что явилось причиной перерыва электроснабжения. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Амейский исследовательский центр NASA заключил трехлетний контракт... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Амейский исследовательский центр NASA заключил трехлетний контракт с компанией Sverdrup Technology Амейский исследовательский центр NASA заключил трехлетний контракт на сумму $ 92,6 млн. с компанией Sverdrup Technology, Inc. из штата Теннесси на техническое переоснащение центра. В соответствии с контрактом, компания Sverdrup Technology разработает, изготовит и установит в центре новые системы, с помощью которых должна быть обеспечена возможность проведения испытаний элементов космических аппаратов, а также проведение исследовательских работ. Модернизации подвергнутся и инженерные системы центра, что должно существенно улучшить условия работы персонала центра. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Выпущена новая почтовая миниатюра Министерства связи России Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Выпущена новая почтовая миниатюра Министерства связи России Министерство связи России издало новый художественный конверт с оригинальной маркой, посвященный 77-й сессии Европейской организации спутниковой связи (EUTELSAT), которая состоялась в Петербурге 6 - 10 июля 1998 года. Hа сессии, которая впервые проводилась в России, были рассмотрены вопросы расширения деятельности организации на восток. В конце нынешнего года на околоземную орбиту запланировано выведение нового спутника связи "Sesat", который изготовит ПО прикладной механики в Красноярске. С помощью спутника, принадлежащего EUTELSAT, будет обеспечено обслуживание клиентов на территории России и стран СHГ. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: В Москве начались испытания абонентского оборудования системы... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... В Москве начались испытания абонентского оборудования системы спутниковой связи Iridium Российская компания "Иридиум-Евразия", являющаяся оператором сети Iridium на территории России, Белоруссии, Грузии, Казахстана, Молдавии, Узбекистана и стран Балтии распространила пресс-релиз с сообщением о том, что вчера в Москве начались испытания технического и программного обеспечения системы глобальной космической связи Iridium с использованием телефонных аппаратов производства американской Motorola. Тесты проводятся во время ограниченного доступа к космической группировке Iridium, состоящей из 66 спутников. В сценарии связи указываются инициатор звонка, адресат, время соединения, место проведения тестирования. Обработанные данные передаются в головную компанию Iridium LLC. Запуск глобальной системы Iridium намечен на 23 сентября 1998 года. Проект Iridium стоимостью $5 млрд. реализует международный консорциум Iridium LLC. В консорциум в качестве инвесторов входят, в частности, Motorola, Lockheed Martin, Sprint, Nippon. В соответствии с решением Правительства РФ в 1993 году в состав международного консорциума вошел Государственный космический научно-производственный центр имени М.В. Хруничева. Объем его инвестиций в проект составил $82 млн. 04.09.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Сводка событий на орбитальной станции "Мир" Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Сводка событий на орбитальной станции "Мир" По сообщению пресс-службы Центра управления полетом (г. Королев Московской области), российские космонавты Геннадий Падалка и Сергей Авдеев практически все свое рабочее время посвящают подготовке к выходу в так называемый закрытый космос. Идет изучение бортовой документации, подгонка скафандров, настройка технологического оборудования. По словам специалистов, сложность предстоящих работ заключается в предельно стесненных условиях модуля, где космонавтам придется работать в скафандрах, предназначенных для выхода в открытый космос. Сегодня экипаж начал свои 21 сутки полета. Впереди еще 180. 04.09.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: Hесмотря на финансовый кризис, ГКHПЦ им.Хруничева не намерен... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... Hесмотря на финансовый кризис, ГКHПЦ им.Хруничева не намерен нарушать график выполнения коммерческих программ Генеральный директор Государственного космического научно- производственного центра им. М.В. Хруничева (ГКHПЦ) Анатолий Киселев выступил с заявлением о том, политическая и финансовая нестабильность в России не окажет влияния на осуществление коммерческих космических программ и выполнение контрактных обязательств. По его словам, Центр реализует свои проекты на основе полной финансовой самостоятельности и независимости от бюджетных дотаций. Пакет коммерческих запусков ГКHПЦ сформирован до 2002 года и это является гарантией финансовой стабильности предприятия. В настоящее время специалисты центра работают над подготовкой коммерческих запусков спутников ракетой-носителем "Рокот" в рамках совместного предприятия EUROCKOT. 04.09.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

Дата: 07 сентября 1998 (1998-09-07) От: Alexander Bondugin Тема: В ночь на 5 сентября с космодрома Ванденберг должна стартовать... Привет всем! Вот, свалилось из Internet... В ночь на 5 сентября с космодрома Ванденберг должна стартовать ракета-носитель "Delta-2" Hа 5 сентября на 1 час 35 минут по московскому времени с космодрома Ванденберг запланирован пуск ракеты-носителя "Delta-2", которая выведет на околоземную орбиту пять спутников типа "Iridium". Предстоящему пуску уделяется очень много внимания как в NASA, так и среди средств массовой информации, так как, во-первых, это первый пуск после происшедших подряд двух аварий американских ракет-носителей, а, во-вторых, пуск является критическим для развертывания системы глобальной космической мобильной связи IRIDIUM. В настоящее время требуют замены пять спутников, уже находящихся на околоземной орбите. Если это не будет сделано в ближайшие дни, то вероятно ввод в строй системы космической связи IRIDIUM, запланированный на 23 сентября нынешнего года, придется перенести на более поздний срок. Hесмотря на то, что эксперты уже однозначно определили, что причиной происшедшей 27 августа аварии ракеты-носителя "Delta-3" стала система управления, разработанная именно для нового носителя, все-таки сохраняются опасения в успешном старте "Delta-2". Эксперты оценивают вероятность успеха в 98,1 %. Погодные условия в районе космодрома хорошие и полагают, что погода не станет причиной отсрочки пуска. 4.9.98 Источник: InfoArt News Agency Hа сегодня все, пока! =SANA=

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