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Exploration & Science Missions

ESA’s Getting Set To Launch Core Work

August 25, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth’s gravitational field and to map the reference shape of our planet, known as the geoid, with unprecedented resolution and accuracy. The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) will be placed into a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, some 800 km north of Moscow.

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Stein Well In Hand By ESA’s Rosetta

August 20, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

On August 14th, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta conducted a successful trajectory correction maneuver using data obtained from the Agency's first-ever optical tracking of an asteroid target, (2867) Steins. Images from the spacecraft's cameras were used to calculate the asteroid's location and optimize its trajectory for fly-by next month.

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NASA’s GLAST At Last, and It’s Music to Their Ears

August 20, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

Exciting happenings will be revealed when NASA conducts a media teleconference on Tuesday, August 26, at 2 p.m. EDT, to announce the first results from NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, and the observatory's new name. The telecon also will include the Large Area Telescope's first light results, and a presentation of gamma-ray bursts that the GLAST Burst Monitor has seen since it went into operation.

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Hubble Has A Happy Birthday And Sends Us A Pictorial Gift

August 12, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

In commemoration of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completing its 100,000th orbit during its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists aimed Hubble to take a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of the Tarantula nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074. The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion.

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NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Reveals Peony Nebula Star

August 11, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

The brightest known star is a massive star called Eta Carina. However, a new runner-up, now the second-brightest star in our galaxy, has been discovered in the galaxy's dusty and frenzied interior. This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star in the central region of our Milky Way. Dubbed the Peony nebula star, this blazing ball of gas shines with the equivalent light of 3.2 million suns. The reigning champ, Eta Carina, produces the equivalent of 4.7 million suns worth of light. However, astronomers say these estimates are uncertain, and it's possible that the Peony nebula star could be even brighter than Eta Carina. If the Peony star is so bright, why doesn't it stand out more in this view? The answer is dust. This star is located in a very dusty region jam packed with stars. In fact, there could be other super bright stars still hidden deep in the stellar crowd. Spitzer's infrared eyes allowed it to pierce the dust and assess the Peony nebula star's true brightness. Likewise, infrared data from the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope in Chile were integral in calculating the Peony nebula star's luminosity. The image below is courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Potsdam Univ.

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Rosetta Pursues Asteroid Steins

August 7, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

Heading toward its first target-asteroid, (2867) Steins, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft is using its cameras to visually track the asteroid, and eventually determine its orbit with more accuracy. Rosetta started the optical navigation campaign this week on August 4, at a distance of about 24 million km from Steins; the campaign will continue until September 4, when the spacecraft will be approximately 950,000 km (570,000 miles) from the asteroid.

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Mars Soil Analyzed

August 6, 2008 / Exploration & Science Missions

Phoenix Mars mission scientists addressed their research in progress concerning an ongoing investigation of perchlorate salts detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory aboard NASA's Phoenix Lander. "Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the instrument that includes the wet chemistry laboratory.

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