SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: September 2001
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The Blue Pools of Eros
(Sep. 27, 2001)
Researchers continue to be surprised by the images and other data
sent back by the NEAR-Shoemaker probe which orbited and then, astonishingly,
successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros earlier this
year. Eros is only a 34 × 11 × 11 km flying mountain, yet
this tiny irregularly-shaped world is strewn with boulders, pitted
with rocks, and, surprisingly, strange "mobile" soils. In low regions
of the asteroid, scientists have observed "ponds" of bluish dust and
speculated that they may have been lifted from beneath the surface
by electrostatic forces subsequently to flow like liquid into the
depressions. The boulders are also an oddity: how could such objects
have avoided being lost into space given Eros's feeble gravity? Several
papers in this week's Nature are devoted to the new findings. |
Portraits of a comet
(Sep. 26, 2001)
Deep Space 1 not ony survived its flyby of comet Borrelly last Saturday
(Sep. 23) but sent back a series of stunning B&W images. This is only
the second time we have glimpsed into the heart of an active comet
to see clearly its nucleus. Giotto sent back a remarkable photo of
Halley's nucleus in 1986, now DS1 has shown us detail on Borrelly
that scientists could only have dreamed about. This little probe,
with its innovative ion drive (which has run longer than any other
spacecraft propulsion device in history), seems set to join Voyager,
Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor, as one of the great success stories
of unmanned spaceflight. For more images and news, go here
(BBC) and here
(Deep Space 1 website). |
Deep Space encounter
(Sep. 21, 2001)
The amazingly successful Deep Space 1 probe, powered by an ion engine,
is about to climax its mission with a close encounter of comet Borrelly.
DS1 was designed to test a range of novel technologies and completed
this primary mission two years ago, so whatever comes next is a bonus.
And whatever comes next is completely unpredictable given the bombardment
that DS1 is sure to receive from dust particles as it closes in on
Borrelly's nucleus. The ESA Giotto
probe suffered a terrible battering during its rendezvous with Halley's
Comet in March 1985, including the loss of its camera. But, if all
goes well, DS1 will fly by Borrelly's nucleus around teatime EST (2230
GMT) on Saturday (Sep. 21) and send back data on the magnetic and
electric fields inside the coma, infrared measurements of the nucleus
(revealing what the surface is made of), and-if the probe's luck really
holds-a black and white snapshot of the nucleus itself. With humankind
in such a muddle back on Earth, it's good to remember that there's
a cosmos waiting to be explored once we sort out our parochial problems.
For more, go here
(space.com article) and here
(Deep Space 1 website). |
Evidence grows for recent climate change
on Mars
(Sep. 13, 2001)
New images of the Martian surface, taken by Mars Global Surveyor,
provide the first direct evidence that the climate of Mars has changed
significantly during the past 100,000 years-less than a thousandth
of the timespan that scientists had previously estimated. If these
new findings hold up, researchers will want to know what mechanisms
are behind the climate change and what the implications might be for
life near the surface. Says Nathalie Cabrole of NASA Ames: "As the
soil reacts to the temperature change and flows downhill, material
from the martian subsurface may be brought up. Any sort of microbiological
community hiding out underground would be brought up to the surface.
Even if life does not exist on Mars today, perhaps these gullies are
bringing up fossils of past life on Mars."
For more, go here. |
Hungarian claims of vegetation on Mars
(Sep. 7, 2001)
Three Hungarian researchers have claimed today that there is strong
evidence of Martian life in some of the Mars Global Surveyor images.
They point to numerous dark spots, similar in appearance to large
colonies of microorganisms found in Antarctica, in craters in the
Martian southern polar region. Biologist and team-member Tibor Ganti
told Reuters: "These spots indicate that on the surface below the
ice there are such organisms which, absorbing solar energy, are able
to melt the ice and create conditions of life for themselves.'' The
idea is that during the Martian winters the life-forms are protected
by a thick blanket of ice which then melts as the planet's late spring
temperatures climb to just above freezing. Large gray dark dune spots
– with a diameter ranging from 10 to hundreds of meters –
are left behind. These, the Hungarians claim, are freeze-dried organisms
which reanimate once the colder, icy season sets in again.
Source: Reuters. |
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