SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS: January 2004Home > Space & Science News > Space & Science News: January 2004: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
Suns of all ages possess comets, maybe planets
(Jan 6, 2004)
In early 2003, Comet Kudo-Fujikawa (C/2002 X5) zipped past the Sun at a distance half that of Mercury's orbit. Astronomers Matthew Povich and John Raymond (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and colleagues studied Kudo-Fujikawa during its close passage. Today at the 203rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta, they announced that they observed the comet puffing out huge amounts of carbon, one of the key elements for life. The comet also emitted large amounts of water vapor as the Sun's heat baked its outer surface. When combined with previous observations suggesting the presence of evaporating comets near young stars like Beta Pictoris and old stars like CW Leonis, these data show that stars of all ages vaporize comets that swing too close. Those observations also show that planetary systems like our own, complete with a collection of comets, likely are common throughout space.
Spirit rover sends back color photos; NASA has direct link
(Jan 5, 2004)
The U.S. robotic probe Spirit beamed panoramic color images of unprecedented clarity back to Earth Sunday after establishing direct contact with NASA scientists guiding its search for ancient signs of life on Mars. The successful deployment of the rover's lollipop-shaped main antenna cuts the delay in communications between the rover and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena to about nine minutes from the hours needed to relay signals through two Mars orbiters, flight director Jason Willis said. At 9:20 p.m. PST, the control room at JPL erupted in cheers as test signals showed that the rover had correctly located Earth in the Martian sky and had positioned the main, "high gain" antenna correctly.
Source: Reuters
Spirit rover lands safely on Mars
(Jan 5, 2004)
A Nasa space probe has sent back its first images of Mars within hours of arriving on the planet. The Spirit rover survived the perilous plunge through the Martian atmosphere after a seven-month voyage from Earth. The six-wheeled robot will seek signs that Mars was once capable of supporting life. A second rover, named Opportunity, is expected to land on the other side of the planet at the end of January. The pictures show the barren, rock-strewn landscape around the rover, including a large, sharp boulder that it narrowly missed hitting.
One-tenth of stars in our Galaxy may support life
(Jan 4, 2004)
One tenth of the stars in our galaxy might provide the right conditions to support complex life, according to a new analysis by Australian researchers. And most of these stars are on average one billion years older than the Sun, allowing much more time, in theory, for any life to evolve. The concept of a "galactic habitable zone" (GHZ) for the Milky Way was first proposed in 2001. Now Charles Lineweaver of the University of New South Wales and colleagues have defined a life-friendly GHZ using a detailed model of the evolution of the Milky Way to map the distribution in space and time of four major factors thought essential for complex life.
Spirit rover begins final approach to Mars
(Jan 3, 2004)
In a perfect world, or in this case two perfect worlds – Earth and Mars, the first of NASA's two robot geologists will bounce over rocks and roll to a safe stop on the martian surface shortly after 8:35 p.m. PST this Saturday, January 3, 2004. NASA's twin rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, have been cruising through the frigid temperatures of space toward Mars for seven months, traveling about 300 million miles. Spirits of the engineers and scientists who have worked on this mission for the last three years will likely heat up around 7:04 p.m. PST when the Spirit spacecraft rotates to face its heat shield forward for final approach. The first step the rover will take in shedding more than half of the spacecraft it has been traveling in should occur at 8:14 p.m. PST, when the entry vehicle is scheduled to separate from the cruise stage. The rover should come screaming into the Martian atmosphere going 12,000 mph at 8:29 p.m. PST.
Stardust makes successful flyby of Comet Wild
(Jan 2, 2004)
The US space agency probe Stardust has made a dramatic flyby of Comet Wild-2, passing just 230 km from the object. The craft has imaged the 5.4-km-wide "dirty ice-ball" (see picture) and grabbed particles streaming away from its nucleus for return to Earth in two years' time. The encounter took place in deep space 389 million km from Earth at 1944 GMT. Scientists believe the returned samples will tell them not only about the construction of comets but also about the early history of the Solar System. Nasa said the telemetry from Stardust indicated the spacecraft survived the potentially hazardous rendezvous and all the collection and analysis equipment onboard the probe worked perfectly.
Bacteria found in 4,000 feet of rock hint at Mars life
(Jan 1, 2004)
A team of scientists has discovered bacteria in a hole drilled more than 4,000 feet deep in volcanic rock on the island of Hawaii near Hilo, in an environment they say could be analogous to conditions on Mars and other planets. Bacteria are being discovered in some of Earth's most inhospitable places, from miles below the ocean's surface to deep within Arctic glaciers. The latest discovery is one of the deepest drill holes in which scientists have discovered living organisms encased within volcanic rock, said Martin R. Fisk, a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.
Scientists have known for some time that the Earth's magnetic field is fading. Like a Kryptonite-challenged Superman, its strength has steadily and mysteriously waned, leaving parts of the planet vulnerable to increased radiation from space. Some satellites already feel the effects. What is uncertain is whether the weakened field is on the way to a complete collapse and a reversal that would flip the North and South Poles. Compasses pointing North would then point South. It is not a matter of whether it will happen, but when, said scientists who presented the latest research on the subject at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Picture: supercomputer model of poles flipping.
