SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: April 2004
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NASA ponders year-long space missions
(Apr 11, 2004)
NASA is considering a proposal from its Russian partner to double
the length of missions to the International Space Station from six
months to one year. The space station has been continually occupied
for the past three-and-half years by eight crews that have stayed
for various lengths of time, but never more than seven months. NASA
has tried to limit space stays to about six months because of health
concerns. After extended periods in zero gravity, muscles atrophy
and bones begin to degenerate. However, President Bush's proposal
of sending astronauts to Mars – a mission that would keep the
crew in space for more than a year – adds a new dimension to
the discussion.
Read
more. Source: CNN |
Dark matter 'found within decade'
(Apr 10, 2004)
The detection of dark matter may be possible within a decade, a Nobel
prize winning physics professor has claimed. Prof Carlo Rubbia told
a conference in Edinburgh, UK, that this breakthrough will change
our view of our place in the universe. "All the visible objects in
the Universe ... only account for 0.5% of the total, so the Universe
as we know it is only a side-show," he said. Recent estimates suggest
about 23% of our universe is made of dark matter. So far, attempts
to prove the existence of dark matter have drawn a blank. Even huge
particle accelerators with tunnels several miles in diameter have
failed to create dark matter particles artificially.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Probe sees storms merge on Saturn
(Apr 10, 2004)
The US-European Cassini spacecraft has caught two huge, swirling storms
in the act of merging on Saturn. It is just the second time this has
been seen, occurring as Cassini nears Saturn to begin a four-year
mission of exploration in orbit around the planet. Scientists observed
events for about a month as two 1,000 km-wide storms approached on
a collision course. The storms twisted around each other in a counter-clockwise
direction as they merged over 19 and 20 March. The only other time
this phenomenon has been witnessed was in August 1981 when Voyager
captured images of storms partially merging.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Twin Mars Exploration Rovers set for extended
encore
(Apr 9, 2004)
NASA has approved an extended mission for the Mars Exploration Rovers,
handing them up to five months of overtime assignments as they finish
their three-month prime mission. The first of the two rovers, Spirit,
met the success criteria set for its prime mission. Spirit gained
check marks in the final two boxes on April 3 and 5, when it exceeded
600 meters of total drive distance and completed 90 martian operational
days after landing. Opportunity landed three weeks after Spirit. It
will complete the two-rover checklist of required feats when it finishes
a 90th martian day of operations April 26. Image: Spirit's planned
course to Columbia Hills.
Read
more. Source: Space Daily |
Private spaceflight draws closer
(Apr 8, 2004)
The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has granted a licence to Scaled
Composites for a sub-orbital launch of their SpaceShipOne rocket-plane.
The license clears the way for an attempt on the X-prize later this
year. The X-prize of $10m (£5.4m) is for the first privately funded,
non-governmental body that can launch a three-person craft into space
twice in two weeks. To claim the prize SpaceShipOne will have to reach
an altitude of 100 km, the "official" boundary of space.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Asteroid protection plan proposed
(Apr 8, 2004)
An unmanned spacecraft should test ways to deflect a threatening asteroid,
two astronauts have told the US government. Rusty Schweickart and
Edward Lu said a mission of this type could be launched to an asteroid
in 2015. In February, Earth was almost placed on impact alert because
of an asteroid then thought to be on an impact course. Mr Schweickart
told a hearing that "the media and the general public realise that
asteroids are of more than passing interest."
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Milky Way past was more turbulent than
previously thought
(Apr 8, 2004)
A team of astronomers from Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden has achieved
a major breakthrough in our understanding of the Milky Way, the galaxy
in which we live. After more than 1,000 nights of observations spread
over 15 years, they have determined the spatial motions of more than
14,000 solar-like stars residing in the neighbourhood of the Sun.
For the first time, the changing dynamics of the Milky Way since its
birth can now be studied in detail and with a stellar sample sufficiently
large to allow a sound analysis. The astronomers find that our home
galaxy has led a much more turbulent and chaotic life than previously
assumed.
Read
more. Source: European Southern Observatory |
Telescopes take close-up of Titan
(Apr 7, 2004)
Astronomers at the Paranal Observatory in Chile have obtained the
best images yet of Titan – Saturn's major moon. They show what
may be clouds in its thick and hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, methane
and oily hydrocarbons. The Chandra X-ray telescope in orbit also studied
Titan's atmosphere as the moon passed in front of the glowing wreckage
of an exploded star. In January 2005, we may find out more when the
Huygens probe attempts a splashdown onto Titan's oily oceans.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Solar wind sampler seals its scoops
(Apr 7, 2004)
NASA's wayfaring Genesis spacecraft has scooped up its last high-energy
particle from the Sun, after collecting ions from the solar wind for
two and a half years. The mission is intended to shed light on the
formation of the Solar System nearly five billion years ago by revealing
the Sun's composition. Its quarry will be the first material ever
returned to Earth from beyond the Moon when it drops to Earth in September
2004. On 1 April, the lid was tightened on a canister containing the
spacecraft's sapphire, silicon, gold, and diamond collector arrays.
These are expected to hold the equivalent of 0.4 milligrams of protons,
electrons, and ions of heavier elements such as helium and oxygen.
"It's effectively like dipping your spoon into the Sun and being able
to analyse that, almost like you would a sample of seawater," says
Christopher Owen, a plasma physicist at Mullard Space Science Laboratory
in Surrey, UK, who is not involved in the mission.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Spirit rover finishes main mission
(Apr 6, 2004)
NASA's Spirit rover wrapped up its primary mission to Mars on Monday
as it continued to roll across the planet's surface on an extended
tour that could last through September. The unmanned robot, marking
its 90th full day on Mars, had accomplished all of the tasks NASA
considered essential to declare the joint mission a success. Its twin
rover, Opportunity, was getting close to achieving the same. "Spirit
has completed its part of the bargain, and Opportunity doesn't have
much left to do," said Mark Adler, manager of the $820 million mission.
The mission's key tasks included a requirement that one of the rovers
travel at least 1,980 feet – a mark Spirit surpassed on Saturday.
Source: CNN /AP |
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