The Mars Adventure
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The Richard B. Kershner Space Integration and Test Facility
ALVIN G. BUSH, WILLIAM E. FRAIN, and ALBERT C. REYMANN THE RICHARD B. KERSHNER SPACE INTEGRATION AND TEST FACILITY This article describes the functional characteristics and capabilities of the APL Space Integration and Test Facility. Its design was begun in late 1981, and the building was dedicated on October 11, 1983. INTRODUCTION The Richard B. Kershner Space Integration and Test Facility (Fig. 1) provides laboratory and office space to support the assembly and testing of spacecraft and spacecraft-borne instruments. Environmental test fa cilities within its 79,000 square feet simulate the rigors of launch and of operations in the vacuum conditions of space. The building contains assembly and test rooms that are clean enough so that precision optical equipment will not be contaminated; laboratories for the development of components for attitude control systems, power system electronics, batteries, and so lar arrays; reliability and quality assurance laborato Figure 1-The Richard B. Kershner building contains offices, ries for the inspection of delicate electronics parts and laboratories, and clean rooms. It is the point of final assem for failure analysis; and office space for 155 engineers, bly and qualification of spacecraft and space instrumentation. technicians, draftsmen, and secretaries. At the core of the building's function are areas devoted to the assembly and testing of spacecraft and Space allocation and layout (Fig. 2) were determined spacecraft instruments. Five rooms, each with 1000 by the requirement for the flow, under one roof, of square feet of floor space, adjoin a staging area served individual parts from a certified clean stockroom by an overhead crane. -
A Deep Search for Additional Satellites Around the Dwarf Planet
Search for Additional Satellites around Haumea A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 01/23/15 A DEEP SEARCH FOR ADDITIONAL SATELLITES AROUND THE DWARF PLANET HAUMEA Luke D. Burkhart1,2, Darin Ragozzine1,3,4, Michael E. Brown5 Search for Additional Satellites around Haumea ABSTRACT Haumea is a dwarf planet with two known satellites, an unusually high spin rate, and a large collisional family, making it one of the most interesting objects in the outer solar system. A fully self-consistent formation scenario responsible for the satellite and family formation is still elusive, but some processes predict the initial formation of many small moons, similar to the small moons recently discovered around Pluto. Deep searches for regular satellites around KBOs are difficult due to observational limitations, but Haumea is one of the few for which sufficient data exist. We analyze Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations, focusing on a ten-consecutive-orbit sequence obtained in July 2010, to search for new very small satellites. To maximize the search depth, we implement and validate a non-linear shift-and-stack method. No additional satellites of Haumea are found, but by implanting and recovering artificial sources, we characterize our sensitivity. At distances between 10,000 km and 350,000 km from Haumea, satellites with radii as small as 10 km are ruled out, assuming∼ an albedo∼ (p 0.7) similar to Haumea. We also rule out satellites larger∼ than &40 km in most of the Hill sphere using≃ other HST data. This search method rules out objects similar in size to the small moons of Pluto. -
CHORUS: Let's Go Meet the Dwarf Planets There Are Five in Our Solar
Meet the Dwarf Planet Lyrics: CHORUS: Let’s go meet the dwarf planets There are five in our solar system Let’s go meet the dwarf planets Now I’ll go ahead and list them I’ll name them again in case you missed one There’s Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake and Haumea They haven’t broken free from all the space debris There’s Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake and Haumea They’re smaller than Earth’s moon and they like to roam free I’m the famous Pluto – as many of you know My orbit’s on a different path in the shape of an oval I used to be planet number 9, But I break the rules; I’m one of a kind I take my time orbiting the sun It’s a long, long trip, but I’m having fun! Five moons keep me company On our epic journey Charon’s the biggest, and then there’s Nix Kerberos, Hydra and the last one’s Styx 248 years we travel out Beyond the other planet’s regular rout We hang out in the Kuiper Belt Where the ice debris will never melt CHORUS My name is Ceres, and I’m closest to the sun They found me in the Asteroid Belt in 1801 I’m the only known dwarf planet between Jupiter and Mars They thought I was an asteroid, but I’m too round and large! I’m Eris the biggest dwarf planet, and the slowest one… It takes me 557 years to travel around the sun I have one moon, Dysnomia, to orbit along with me We go way out past the Kuiper Belt, there’s so much more to see! CHORUS My name is Makemake, and everyone thought I was alone But my tiny moon, MK2, has been with me all along It takes 310 years for us to orbit ‘round the sun But out here in the Kuiper Belt… our adventures just begun Hello my name’s Haumea, I’m not round shaped like my friends I rotate fast, every 4 hours, which stretched out both my ends! Namaka and Hi’iaka are my moons, I have just 2 And we live way out past Neptune in the Kuiper Belt it’s true! CHORUS Now you’ve met the dwarf planets, there are 5 of them it’s true But the Solar System is a great big place, with more exploring left to do Keep watching the skies above us with a telescope you look through Because the next person to discover one… could be me or you… . -
Mariner to Mercury, Venus and Mars
NASA Facts National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109 Mariner to Mercury, Venus and Mars Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA’s Jet carry a host of scientific instruments. Some of the Propulsion Laboratory designed and built 10 space- instruments, such as cameras, would need to be point- craft named Mariner to explore the inner solar system ed at the target body it was studying. Other instru- -- visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for ments were non-directional and studied phenomena the first time, and returning to Venus and Mars for such as magnetic fields and charged particles. JPL additional close observations. The final mission in the engineers proposed to make the Mariners “three-axis- series, Mariner 10, flew past Venus before going on to stabilized,” meaning that unlike other space probes encounter Mercury, after which it returned to Mercury they would not spin. for a total of three flybys. The next-to-last, Mariner Each of the Mariner projects was designed to have 9, became the first ever to orbit another planet when two spacecraft launched on separate rockets, in case it rached Mars for about a year of mapping and mea- of difficulties with the nearly untried launch vehicles. surement. Mariner 1, Mariner 3, and Mariner 8 were in fact lost The Mariners were all relatively small robotic during launch, but their backups were successful. No explorers, each launched on an Atlas rocket with Mariners were lost in later flight to their destination either an Agena or Centaur upper-stage booster, and planets or before completing their scientific missions. -
March 21–25, 2016
FORTY-SEVENTH LUNAR AND PLANETARY SCIENCE CONFERENCE PROGRAM OF TECHNICAL SESSIONS MARCH 21–25, 2016 The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center The Woodlands, Texas INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT Universities Space Research Association Lunar and Planetary Institute National Aeronautics and Space Administration CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS Stephen Mackwell, Lunar and Planetary Institute Eileen Stansbery, NASA Johnson Space Center PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIRS David Draper, NASA Johnson Space Center Walter Kiefer, Lunar and Planetary Institute PROGRAM COMMITTEE P. Doug Archer, NASA Johnson Space Center Nicolas LeCorvec, Lunar and Planetary Institute Katherine Bermingham, University of Maryland Yo Matsubara, Smithsonian Institute Janice Bishop, SETI and NASA Ames Research Center Francis McCubbin, NASA Johnson Space Center Jeremy Boyce, University of California, Los Angeles Andrew Needham, Carnegie Institution of Washington Lisa Danielson, NASA Johnson Space Center Lan-Anh Nguyen, NASA Johnson Space Center Deepak Dhingra, University of Idaho Paul Niles, NASA Johnson Space Center Stephen Elardo, Carnegie Institution of Washington Dorothy Oehler, NASA Johnson Space Center Marc Fries, NASA Johnson Space Center D. Alex Patthoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Cyrena Goodrich, Lunar and Planetary Institute Elizabeth Rampe, Aerodyne Industries, Jacobs JETS at John Gruener, NASA Johnson Space Center NASA Johnson Space Center Justin Hagerty, U.S. Geological Survey Carol Raymond, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lindsay Hays, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Paul Schenk, -
Impact Melt Emplacement on Mercury
Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 7-24-2018 2:00 PM Impact Melt Emplacement on Mercury Jeffrey Daniels The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Neish, Catherine D. The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Geology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Science © Jeffrey Daniels 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Geology Commons, Physical Processes Commons, and the The Sun and the Solar System Commons Recommended Citation Daniels, Jeffrey, "Impact Melt Emplacement on Mercury" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5657. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5657 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract Impact cratering is an abrupt, spectacular process that occurs on any world with a solid surface. On Earth, these craters are easily eroded or destroyed through endogenic processes. The Moon and Mercury, however, lack a significant atmosphere, meaning craters on these worlds remain intact longer, geologically. In this thesis, remote-sensing techniques were used to investigate impact melt emplacement about Mercury’s fresh, complex craters. For complex lunar craters, impact melt is preferentially ejected from the lowest rim elevation, implying topographic control. On Venus, impact melt is preferentially ejected downrange from the impact site, implying impactor-direction control. Mercury, despite its heavily-cratered surface, trends more like Venus than like the Moon. -
Pluto and Charon
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 0 300,000,000 900,000,000 1,500,000,000 2,100,000,000 2,700,000,000 3,300,000,000 3,900,000,000 4,500,000,000 5,100,000,000 5,700,000,000 kilometers Pluto and Charon www.nasa.gov Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet and is also a member of a Charon’s orbit around Pluto takes 6.4 Earth days, and one Pluto SIGNIFICANT DATES group of objects that orbit in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of rotation (a Pluto day) takes 6.4 Earth days. Charon neither rises 1930 — Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto. Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. This distant realm is populated nor sets but “hovers” over the same spot on Pluto’s surface, 1977–1999 — Pluto’s lopsided orbit brings it slightly closer to with thousands of miniature icy worlds, which formed early in the and the same side of Charon always faces Pluto — this is called the Sun than Neptune. It will be at least 230 years before Pluto history of the solar system. These icy, rocky bodies are called tidal locking. Compared with most of the planets and moons, the moves inward of Neptune’s orbit for 20 years. Kuiper Belt objects or transneptunian objects. Pluto–Charon system is tipped on its side, like Uranus. Pluto’s 1978 — American astronomers James Christy and Robert Har- rotation is retrograde: it rotates “backwards,” from east to west Pluto’s 248-year-long elliptical orbit can take it as far as 49.3 as- rington discover Pluto’s unusually large moon, Charon. -
N€WS 'RELEASE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS and SPACE Admln ISTRATION 400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19630002483 2020-03-11T16:50:02+00:00Z b " N€WS 'RELEASE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMlN ISTRATION 400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C. TELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH. 3-1110 RELEASE NO. 62-182 MARINER SPACECRAFT Mariner 2, the second of a series of spacecraft designed for planetary exploration,- will be launched within a few days (no earlier than August 17) from the Atlantic Missile Range, Cape Canaveral, Florida, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mariner 1, launched at 4:21 a.m. (EST) on July 22, 1962 from AMR, was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer after about 290 seconds of flight because of a deviation from the planned flight path. Measures have been taken to correct the difficulties experienced in the Mariner 1 launch. These measures include a more rigorous checkout of the Atlas rate beacon and revision of the data editing equation. The data editing equation Is designed as a guard against acceptance of faulty databy the ground guidance equipment. The Mariner 2 spacecraft and its mission are identical to the first Mariner. Mariner 2 will carry six experiments. Two of these instruments, infrared and microwave radiometers, will make measurements at close range as Mariner 2 flys by Venus and communicate this in€ormation over an interplanetary distance of 36 million miles, Four other experiments on the spacecraft -- a magnetometer, ion chamber and particle flux detector, cosmic dust detector and solar plasma spectrometer -- will gather Information on interplantetary phenomena during the trip to Venus and in the vicinity of the planet. -
Results from the New Horizons Encounter with Pluto
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 11, EPSC2017-140, 2017 European Planetary Science Congress 2017 EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress c Author(s) 2017 Results from the New Horizons encounter with Pluto C. B. Olkin (1), S. A. Stern (1), J. R. Spencer (1), H. A. Weaver (2), L. A. Young (1), K. Ennico (3) and the New Horizons Team (1) Southwest Research Institute, Colorado, USA, (2) Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Maryland, USA (3) NASA Ames Research Center, California, USA ([email protected]) Abstract Hydra) and the various processes that would darken those surfaces over time [5]. In July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew through the Pluto system providing high spatial resolution panchromatic and color visible light imaging, near-infrared composition mapping spectroscopy, UV airglow measurements, UV solar and radio uplink occultations for atmospheric sounding, and in situ plasma and dust measurements that have transformed our understanding of Pluto and its moons [1]. Results from the science investigations focusing on geology, surface composition and atmospheric studies of Pluto and its largest satellite Charon will be presented. We also describe the New Horizons extended mission. 1. Geology and Size Highlights from the geology investigation of Pluto Figure 1: The glacial ices of Sputnik Planitia. The include the discovery of a unexpected diversity of cellular pattern is a surface expression of mobile lid geomorpholgies across the surface, the discovery of a convection. The boundaries of the cells are troughs. deep basin (informally known as Sputnik Planitia) Despite it’s size of ~900,000 km2, there are no containing glacial ices undergoing mobile-lid identified craters across Sputnik Planitia. -
Evolution and Geochemistry of the Martian Crust: Integrating Mission Datasets
Seventh International Conference on Mars 3179.pdf EVOLUTION AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE MARTIAN CRUST: INTEGRATING MISSION DATASETS. B. C. Hahn1 and S. M. McLennan1, 1Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2100 ([email protected], [email protected]). Introduction: The Martian crust is an important the Odyssey GRS has an inherently low resolving ca- geochemical reservoir. It is the only portion of the pacity with a spatially large footprint and thus cannot planet surveyed by broad-scale remote sensing obser- be used effectively for fine-scale regional analysis. vations (beginning with the Mariner program through Additionally, element abundance maps are subject to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) or by in situ lander considerable smoothing and auto-correlation effects experiments (from the Viking missions through the due to element correction factors, the large footprint Mars Exploration Rovers). Mars experienced a unique and necessary data processing [6, 10]. This too, limits mechanism for crustal emplacement, resurfacing, and GRS analysis to areally-large regional or global stud- recycling [1] – different from the continuous plate tec- ies. For cross-instrument data analysis (e.g., comparing tonic regime of Earth or the episodic, widespread ba- GRS elemental abundances to TES mineralogies or salt flooding of Venus. USGS relative apparent surface ages), higher- Further, it is well-established that crusts of the in- resolution global datasets (e.g., TES mineralogical ner planets and rocky satellites become substantially maps) must be smoothed to GRS’s lower-resolution. enriched in a suite of geochemically important ele- The Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Oppor- ments during early differentiation and further evolu- tunity, have each traveled several kilometers across the tion [2, 3]. -
New Horizons Explores the Pluto System 2015
The Everest of Planetary Exploration: New Horizons Explores The Pluto System 2015 July 2015 Be There! New Horizons: Science At The Pluto System Total System Characterization • New satellites? Dust rings? • Measure satellite masses, orbits, colors, compositions Total System Characterization Outcome of Giant Impact • Goal: Understand formation of Pluto Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt – and transformation of icy debris early solar system Charon Model: R. Canup (SwRI) Distance (103 km) Global Geology Best “synthetic Pluto” from Hubble 2,300 km Resolution ~500 km Map: M. Buie (SwRI) • High-Res mapping of Pluto and satellites Charon, Nix and Hydra New Horizons: 90 meters/pixel • Search for changes on approach to Pluto, surface-atmosphere interactions, mobile frosts, clouds and hazes • Goal: Understand how dwarf planets evolve; compare and contrast with icy satellites Atmospheric Structure & Escape • Goal: Understand dwarf-planet atmospheres and climates Atmospheric Structure & Escape • Goal: Understand how planets lose their atmospheres Model: D McComas (SwRI) Composition & Temperature Maps • Surface-ice distribution; search for complex organic molecules • Relation of ices to sunlight, topography, atmosphere; evidence for cryovolcanism or geysers • Goal: understand Pluto and Charon as planet and major moon Archetype Kuiper Belt Planet • New Horizons will revolutionize our understanding of icy planets of the Kuiper belt and broader trans-Neptunian population • Pluto “saw” early cataclysmic events, including wholesale reorganization of the solar -
The Thermal Limits to Life on Earth
International Journal of Astrobiology 13 (2): 141–154 (2014) doi:10.1017/S1473550413000438 © Cambridge University Press 2014. The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. The thermal limits to life on Earth Andrew Clarke1,2 1British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK 2School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK e-mail: [email protected] Abstract: Living organisms on Earth are characterized by three necessary features: a set of internal instructions encoded in DNA (software), a suite of proteins and associated macromolecules providing a boundary and internal structure (hardware), and a flux of energy. In addition, they replicate themselves through reproduction, a process that renders evolutionary change inevitable in a resource-limited world. Temperature has a profound effect on all of these features, and yet life is sufficiently adaptable to be found almost everywhere water is liquid. The thermal limits to survival are well documented for many types of organisms, but the thermal limits to completion of the life cycle are much more difficult to establish, especially for organisms that inhabit thermally variable environments. Current data suggest that the thermal limits to completion of the life cycle differ between the three major domains of life, bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. At the very highest temperatures only archaea are found with the current high-temperature limit for growth being 122 °C. Bacteria can grow up to 100 °C, but no eukaryote appears to be able to complete its life cycle above *60 °C and most not above 40 °C.