Defying the nettlesome Galactic Ghoul, NASA successfully set down its Phoenix spacecraft on the Martian surface on Sunday. The lander, which will search for evidence of life, touched down near the planet’s north pole at 4:38 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
Just before 7 p.m., controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena burst into applause as the first pictures from the lander were relayed from the surface via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. The images showed the Martian horizon, deployed solar arrays, and a landing pad. Early telemetry indicates that the spacecraft landed on a flat surface and is in good shape. The spacecraft’s robotic arm, which will scoop up soil for analysis, appears to be deployed properly.
This marks the sixth successful landing on Mars in seven attempts for the American space agency, raising NASA’s on-Mars percentage to 85.7.
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NASA PRESS RELEASE
A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently.
Rover engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are diagnosing why the motor, one of five in the robotic arm, stalled on April 14 after much less motion that day than in the case of several earlier stalls. They are also examining whether the motor can be used and assessing the impact on Opportunity’s work if the motor were no longer usable.
The motor controls sideways motion at the shoulder joint of the rover robotic arm. Other motors provide up-and-down motion at the shoulder and maneuverability at the elbow and wrist. A turret at the end of the arm has four tools that the arm places in contact with rocks and soils to study their composition and texture.
“Even under the worst-case scenario for this motor, Opportunity still has the capability to do some contact science with the arm,” said JPL’s John Callas, project manager for the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit. “The vehicle has quite a bit of versatility to continue the high-priority investigations in Victoria Crater and back out on the Meridiani plains after exiting the crater.”
Continue reading ‘JPL Diagnoses Balky Shoulder Joint on Opportunity Rover’
BBC News has an interesting story about Qinetiq, a British company that is developed advanced ion engines for use in future space missions.
Ion engines have great promise for future space missions, but their development is still in its infancy. Qinetig’s T5 ion engine will fly for the first time on ESA’s Goce spacecraft, which will map variations in the Earth’s gravity field.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of the larger of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, within 10 minutes of each other on March 23, 2008. This is the first, taken from a distance of about 6,800 kilometers (about 4,200 miles). It is presented in color by combining data from the camera’s blue-green, red, and near-infrared channels.
The illuminated part of Phobos seen in the images is about 21 kilometers (13 miles) across. The most prominent feature in the images is the large crater Stickney in the lower right. With a diameter of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles), it is the largest feature on Phobos.
Continue reading ‘Spacecraft Spots Largest Known Potato in Orbit Around Mars’
Aviation Week is reporting that China’s second lunar spacecraft, Chang’e 2, will orbit the Moon but not land on it, as previous reports had indicated. The magazine quotes Chinese space official Ye Peijiam as saying the spacecraft, set for launch in 2009-2010, will carry different instrumentation from its predecessor, Chang’e 1, which is now mapping the moon from lunar orbit.
The first Chinese landing on the moon is set for around 2012, with a sample return scheduled for 2017.
NASA has apparently given a reprieve to the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. The Associated Press reports:
“NASA has no plans to turn off either of the healthy twin Mars rovers to make up for cost overruns faced by a big new rover slated to fly to the Red Planet next year, the space agency said.
“In a rare move, NASA said it rescinded a letter sent last week to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena that directed budget cuts to the Mars exploration program, including a $4 million reduction from the rovers project.”
Read the full story.
Space.com is reporting that NASA has ordered a 40 percent cut in the operating budgets for the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers over the next 18 months. The change involves a $4 million cut in the remaining FY 2008 budget and an $8 million reduction for FY 2009. It costs about $20 million annually to operate the two rovers.
NASA officials said there are no plans to “cancel” the mission of the two Mars Exploration Rovers, which have been on the Martian surface since 2004. An official told CNN that the cuts were being made to help balance overruns in the Mars Science Laboratory, which is set for launch next year. All three missions are managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Continue reading ‘NASA Orders Deep Cuts in Spirit and Opportunity Rover Budget’
NASA PRESS RELEASE
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn’s moon Titan. The findings, made using radar measurements of Titan’s rotation, will appear in the March 21 issue of the journal Science.
“With its organic dunes, lakes, channels and mountains, Titan has one of the most varied, active and Earth-like surfaces in the solar system,” said Ralph Lorenz, lead author of the paper and Cassini radar scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., “Now we see changes in the way Titan rotates, giving us a window into Titan’s interior beneath the surface.”
Continue reading ‘Cassini Finds Evidence of Underground Ocean on Titan’
AEROJET PRESS RELEASE
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Aerojet, a GenCorp NYSE: GY company, announced today that Jules Verne — the first of the European Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) — has successfully launched aboard the European expendable launch system, Ariane 5, out of Kourou in French Guiana.
For the mission, Aerojet delivered four R-4D main engines that will be used to accomplish the early circularization maneuvers and docking simulations. NASA announced that the ATV reached its preliminary orbit about nine minutes after liftoff. When preliminary orbit was achieved, the ATV engines fired for eight minutes to place the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit. About 45 minutes later, a second engine firing circularized the ATV’s orbit prior to spacecraft separation.
Once in orbit, the ATV will undergo four weeks of extensive systems tests, including two approaches to the station to simulate rendezvous and contingency techniques.
Continue reading ‘Aerojet Celebrates Launch of Jules Verne’
NASA PRESS RELEASE
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a daring flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on Wednesday, March 12, flying about 15 kilometers per second (32,000 mph) through icy water geyser-like jets. The spacecraft snatched up precious samples that might point to a water ocean or organics inside the little moon.
Scientists believe the geysers could provide evidence that liquid water is trapped under the icy crust of Enceladus. The geysers emanate from fractures running along the moon’s south pole, spewing out water vapor at approximately 400 meters per second (800 mph).
The new data provide a much more detailed look at the fractures that modify the surface and will give a significantly improved comparison between the geologic history of the moon’s north pole and south pole.
Continue reading ‘Cassini Flies Through Watery Plumes of Saturn Moon’