NASA said Tuesday it is recycling two used spacecraft to lead new robotic missions to study comets and planets around other stars. The encore performances of the Deep Impact and Stardust probes allow the space agency to further its solar system exploration for a fraction of the cost it would take to start a mission from scratch.
Scientists plan to activate Deep Impact later this year for a two-part mission that includes collecting data on extrasolar planets to determine whether they have rings, moons or other features. Deep Impact will become an observatory looking at distant stars already known to be orbited by giant planets. After that, Deep Impact will pass the comet 85P/Boethin in December 2008.
In 2005, Deep Impact released a copper impactor that smashed into comet Tempel 1. NASA now plans to send Stardust to Tempel 1 to examine the crater created by this impact. Scientists failed to image the crater after the collision because the plume blocked the view, but they hope to get a second chance with Stardust when it flies by the comet in 2011.
NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New Assignments
Kategorie: Allgemein
New heavy particle discovered
Physicists of the DZero experiment at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered a new heavy particle, the Ξb (pronounced „zigh sub b“) baryon, with a mass of 5.774±0.019 GeV/c2, approximately six times the proton mass. The newly discovered electrically charged Ξb baryon, also known as the „cascade b“, is made of a down, a strange and a bottom quark. It is the first observed baryon formed of quarks from all three families of matter. Its discovery and the measurement of its mass provide new understanding of how the strong nuclear force acts upon the quarks, the basic building blocks of matter.
https://news.fnal.gov/2007/06/fermilab-physicists-discover-triple-scoop-baryon/
Scientists wirelessly power light bulb from 2 meters away
A team from MIT’s Department of Physics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) has experimentally demonstrated an important step toward accomplishing a vision of the future in which wireless power transfer is feasible. They were able to light a 60W light bulb from a power source more than two meters away. There was no physical connection between the source and the appliance.
https://news.mit.edu/2007/wireless-0607
The first image of surface features on a sun-like star
University of Michigan astronomers combined light from four widely separated telescopes to produce the first picture showing surface details on a sun-like star beyond our solar system. The image of the rapidly rotating, hot star Altair is the most detailed stellar picture ever made using an innovative light-combining technique called optical interferometry.
Article @ University of Michigan
Plastic that doesn't burn
Scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have created a synthetic polymer that doesn’t burn.
http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/53157.php
The Ions Are Coming!
A scientist using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has found a way to forecast solar radiation storms. The new method offers as much as one hour advance warning, giving astronauts time to seek shelter and ground controllers time to safeguard their satellites when a storm is approaching.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/25may_costep/
Multi-planet system found
Using the McDonald Observatory, astronomers have discovered a system of two Jupiter-like planets orbiting a star whose composition might seem to rule out planet formation.
A Planetary System Around HD 155358: The Lowest Metallicity Planet Host Star
The brightest supernova
Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes have detected the brightest stellar explosion ever recorded. It may be the first example of a type of massive exploding star rare today but probably common in the very early universe.
https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/sn2006gy/index.html
NASA puts on 3-D glasses to view sun
NASA released the first three-dimensional images of the sun, saying the photos taken from twin spacecraft may lead to better predictions of solar eruptions that can affect communications and power lines on Earth. These images from STEREO (for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) are available on the Internet. So put your 3-D glasses on, too, and take a look:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/stereo3D_press.html