Fun Facts: • Mercury Is the Smallest Planet in Our Solar System - Only Slightly Larger Than the Earth's Moon
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Mission to Jupiter
This book attempts to convey the creativity, Project A History of the Galileo Jupiter: To Mission The Galileo mission to Jupiter explored leadership, and vision that were necessary for the an exciting new frontier, had a major impact mission’s success. It is a book about dedicated people on planetary science, and provided invaluable and their scientific and engineering achievements. lessons for the design of spacecraft. This The Galileo mission faced many significant problems. mission amassed so many scientific firsts and Some of the most brilliant accomplishments and key discoveries that it can truly be called one of “work-arounds” of the Galileo staff occurred the most impressive feats of exploration of the precisely when these challenges arose. Throughout 20th century. In the words of John Casani, the the mission, engineers and scientists found ways to original project manager of the mission, “Galileo keep the spacecraft operational from a distance of was a way of demonstrating . just what U.S. nearly half a billion miles, enabling one of the most technology was capable of doing.” An engineer impressive voyages of scientific discovery. on the Galileo team expressed more personal * * * * * sentiments when she said, “I had never been a Michael Meltzer is an environmental part of something with such great scope . To scientist who has been writing about science know that the whole world was watching and and technology for nearly 30 years. His books hoping with us that this would work. We were and articles have investigated topics that include doing something for all mankind.” designing solar houses, preventing pollution in When Galileo lifted off from Kennedy electroplating shops, catching salmon with sonar and Space Center on 18 October 1989, it began an radar, and developing a sensor for examining Space interplanetary voyage that took it to Venus, to Michael Meltzer Michael Shuttle engines. -
Geological Timeline
Geological Timeline In this pack you will find information and activities to help your class grasp the concept of geological time, just how old our planet is, and just how young we, as a species, are. Planet Earth is 4,600 million years old. We all know this is very old indeed, but big numbers like this are always difficult to get your head around. The activities in this pack will help your class to make visual representations of the age of the Earth to help them get to grips with the timescales involved. Important EvEnts In thE Earth’s hIstory 4600 mya (million years ago) – Planet Earth formed. Dust left over from the birth of the sun clumped together to form planet Earth. The other planets in our solar system were also formed in this way at about the same time. 4500 mya – Earth’s core and crust formed. Dense metals sank to the centre of the Earth and formed the core, while the outside layer cooled and solidified to form the Earth’s crust. 4400 mya – The Earth’s first oceans formed. Water vapour was released into the Earth’s atmosphere by volcanism. It then cooled, fell back down as rain, and formed the Earth’s first oceans. Some water may also have been brought to Earth by comets and asteroids. 3850 mya – The first life appeared on Earth. It was very simple single-celled organisms. Exactly how life first arose is a mystery. 1500 mya – Oxygen began to accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere. Oxygen is made by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) as a product of photosynthesis. -
Earth Venus Mercury the Sun Saturn Jupiter Uranus Mars
Mercury Diameter 1,391,000 km Diameter 4878 km Diameter 12,104 km Diameter 12,756 km Temperature 6000°C Temperature 427°C Temperature 482°C Temperature 22°C Speed 136 mph Speed 107,132 mph Speed 78,364 mph Speed 66,641 mph Mass 1,989,000 Mass 0.33 Mass 4.86 Mass 5.97 Year of Discovery N/A Year of Discovery Venus 1885 Year of Discovery N/A Year of Discovery N/A The Sun Mercury Earth Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, orbiting our star at an average distance of 57.9 million kilometres, taking 88 days to complete a trip around the sun. Mercury is also the smallest planet in our solar system. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, orbiting The Sun is the star at the centre of our Solar our star at an average distance of 57.9 million Venus is our neighbouring planet. It is Our home, some 4.5 billion years old. Life System. Its mass is approximately 330,000 times kilometres, taking 88 days to complete a trip impossible to state when Venus was appeared on the surface just 1 billion years heavier than our home planet and is 109 times around the sun. Mercury is also the smallest after creation, with human beings appearing wider. The Sun is the largest object in our Solar planet in our Solar System. discovered as it is visible with the just 200,000 years ago. System. naked eye. Diameter 6794 km Diameter 142,800 km Saturn Diameter 120,536 km Diameter 51,118 km Temperature -15°C Temperature -150°C Temperature -180°C Temperature -214°C Speed 53,980 mph Speed 29,216 mph Speed 21,565 mph Speed 15,234 mph Mass 0.64 Mass 1898 Mass 568 Mass 86.81 Mars Year of Discovery 1580 Year of Discovery 1610 Year of Discovery 700 BC Year of Discovery 1781 Jupiter Uranus The fourth planet from the Sun. -
Ices on Mercury: Chemistry of Volatiles in Permanently Cold Areas of Mercury’S North Polar Region
Icarus 281 (2017) 19–31 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Icarus journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Ices on Mercury: Chemistry of volatiles in permanently cold areas of Mercury’s north polar region ∗ M.L. Delitsky a, , D.A. Paige b, M.A. Siegler c, E.R. Harju b,f, D. Schriver b, R.E. Johnson d, P. Travnicek e a California Specialty Engineering, Pasadena, CA b Dept of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA c Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ d Dept of Engineering Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA e Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA f Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its flyby and orbital observations of Mercury in 2008– Received 3 January 2016 2015 indicated the presence of cold icy materials hiding in permanently-shadowed craters in Mercury’s Revised 29 July 2016 north polar region. These icy condensed volatiles are thought to be composed of water ice and frozen Accepted 2 August 2016 organics that can persist over long geologic timescales and evolve under the influence of the Mercury Available online 4 August 2016 space environment. Polar ices never see solar photons because at such high latitudes, sunlight cannot Keywords: reach over the crater rims. The craters maintain a permanently cold environment for the ices to persist. Mercury surface ices magnetospheres However, the magnetosphere will supply a beam of ions and electrons that can reach the frozen volatiles radiolysis and induce ice chemistry. -
Flower Constellation Optimization and Implementation
FLOWER CONSTELLATION OPTIMIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION A Dissertation by CHRISTIAN BRUCCOLERI Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2007 Major Subject: Aerospace Engineering FLOWER CONSTELLATION OPTIMIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION A Dissertation by CHRISTIAN BRUCCOLERI Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Daniele Mortari Committee Members, John L. Junkins Thomas C. Pollock J. Maurice Rojas Head of Department, Helen Reed December 2007 Major Subject: Aerospace Engineering iii ABSTRACT Flower Constellation Optimization and Implementation. (December 2007) Christian Bruccoleri, M.S., Universit´a di Roma - La Sapienza Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Daniele Mortari Satellite constellations provide the infrastructure to implement some of the most im- portant global services of our times both in civilian and military applications, ranging from telecommunications to global positioning, and to observation systems. Flower Constellations constitute a set of satellite constellations characterized by periodic dynamics. They have been introduced while trying to augment the existing design methodologies for satellite constellations. The dynamics of a Flower Constellation identify a set of implicit rotating reference frames on which the satellites follow the same closed-loop relative trajectory. In particular, when one of these rotating refer- ence frames is “Planet Centered, Planet Fixed”, then all the orbits become compatible (or resonant) with the planet; consequently, the projection of the relative path on the planet results in a repeating ground track. The satellite constellations design methodology currently most utilized is the Walker Delta Pattern or, more generally, Walker Constellations. -
Bepicolombo - a Mission to Mercury
BEPICOLOMBO - A MISSION TO MERCURY ∗ R. Jehn , J. Schoenmaekers, D. Garc´ıa and P. Ferri European Space Operations Centre, ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany ABSTRACT BepiColombo is a cornerstone mission of the ESA Science Programme, to be launched towards Mercury in July 2014. After a journey of nearly 6 years two probes, the Magneto- spheric Orbiter (JAXA) and the Planetary Orbiter (ESA) will be separated and injected into their target orbits. The interplanetary trajectory includes flybys at the Earth, Venus (twice) and Mercury (four times), as well as several thrust arcs provided by the solar electric propulsion module. At the end of the transfer a gravitational capture at the weak stability boundary is performed exploiting the Sun gravity. In case of a failure of the orbit insertion burn, the spacecraft will stay for a few revolutions in the weakly captured orbit. The arrival conditions are chosen such that backup orbit insertion manoeuvres can be performed one, four or five orbits later with trajectory correction manoeuvres of less than 15 m/s to compensate the Sun perturbations. Only in case that no manoeuvre can be performed within 64 days (5 orbits) after the nominal orbit insertion the spacecraft will leave Mercury and the mission will be lost. The baseline trajectory has been designed taking into account all operational constraints: 90-day commissioning phase without any thrust; 30-day coast arcs before each flyby (to allow for precise navigation); 7-day coast arcs after each flyby; 60-day coast arc before orbit insertion; Solar aspect angle constraints and minimum flyby altitudes (300 km at Earth and Venus, 200 km at Mercury). -
The Earth Observer. July
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Earth Observer. July - August 2012. Volume 24, Issue 4. Editor’s Corner Steve Platnick obser ervth EOS Senior Project Scientist The joint NASA–U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat program celebrated a major milestone on July 23 with the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Landsat-1 mission—then known as the Earth Resources and Technology Satellite (ERTS). Landsat-1 was the first in a series of seven Landsat satellites launched to date. At least one Landsat satellite has been in operation at all times over the past four decades providing an uninter- rupted record of images of Earth’s land surface. This has allowed researchers to observe patterns of land use from space and also document how the land surface is changing with time. Numerous operational applications of Landsat data have also been developed, leading to improved management of resources and informed land use policy decisions. (The image montage at the bottom of this page shows six examples of how Landsat data has been used over the last four decades.) To commemorate the anniversary, NASA and the USGS helped organize and participated in several events on July 23. A press briefing was held over the lunch hour at the Newseum in Washington, DC, where presenta- tions included the results of a My American Landscape contest. Earlier this year NASA and the USGS sent out a press release asking Americans to describe landscape change that had impacted their lives and local areas. Of the many responses received, six were chosen for discussion at the press briefing with the changes depicted in time series or pairs of Landsat images. -
Dwarf Planet Ceres
Dwarf Planet Ceres drishtiias.com/printpdf/dwarf-planet-ceres Why in News As per the data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, dwarf planet Ceres reportedly has salty water underground. Dawn (2007-18) was a mission to the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt - Vesta and Ceres. Key Points 1/3 Latest Findings: The scientists have given Ceres the status of an “ocean world” as it has a big reservoir of salty water underneath its frigid surface. This has led to an increased interest of scientists that the dwarf planet was maybe habitable or has the potential to be. Ocean Worlds is a term for ‘Water in the Solar System and Beyond’. The salty water originated in a brine reservoir spread hundreds of miles and about 40 km beneath the surface of the Ceres. Further, there is an evidence that Ceres remains geologically active with cryovolcanism - volcanoes oozing icy material. Instead of molten rock, cryovolcanoes or salty-mud volcanoes release frigid, salty water sometimes mixed with mud. Subsurface Oceans on other Celestial Bodies: Jupiter’s moon Europa, Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Neptune’s moon Triton, and the dwarf planet Pluto. This provides scientists a means to understand the history of the solar system. Ceres: It is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801. It is the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system (includes planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). Scientists classified it as a dwarf planet in 2006. -
Chapter 9: the Origin and Evolution of the Moon and Planets
Chapter 9 THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE MOON AND PLANETS 9.1 In the Beginning The age of the universe, as it is perceived at present, is perhaps as old as 20 aeons so that the formation of the solar system at about 4.5 aeons is a comparatively youthful event in this stupendous extent of time [I]. Thevisible portion of the universe consists principally of about 10" galaxies, which show local marked irregularities in distribution (e.g., Virgo cluster). The expansion rate (Hubble Constant) has values currently estimated to lie between 50 and 75 km/sec/MPC [2]. The reciprocal of the constant gives ages ranging between 13 and 20 aeons but there is uncertainty due to the local perturbing effects of the Virgo cluster of galaxies on our measurement of the Hubble parameter [I]. The age of the solar system (4.56 aeons), the ages of old star clusters (>10" years) and the production rates of elements all suggest ages for the galaxy and the observable universe well in excess of 10" years (10 aeons). The origin of the presently observable universe is usually ascribed, in current cosmologies, to a "big bang," and the 3OK background radiation is often accepted as proof of the correctness of the hypothesis. Nevertheless, there are some discrepancies. The observed ratio of hydrogen to helium which should be about 0.25 in a "big-bang" scenario may be too high. The distribution of galaxies shows much clumping, which would indicate an initial chaotic state [3], and there are variations in the spectrum of the 3OK radiation which are not predicted by the theory. -
Science in the Urantia Papers
Science ¾ Scientific Validation of the UB z By Denver Pearson z By Phil Calabrese ¾ Seraphic Velocities ¾ Astronomy The Scientific Integrity of the Urantia Book by Denver Pearson As scientifically minded readers first peruse the Urantia Book, it soon occurs to them that many of its statements on the natural sciences conflict with currently held data and theories. In the minds of many this gives rise to doubts about the truthfulness of those statements. Wisdom would lead us to realize that nothing short of perfection is perfect, and anything touched by human hands has fingerprints. This should be our guiding thoughts as we contemplate the accuracy of the scientific content of the Urantia Papers. Several years ago, at the first scientific symposium, it was implied by one of the speakers that the revelation contains errors. This implication is alarming. More recently, at the second symposium held in Oklahoma, an interesting publication named "The Science Content of The Urantia Book" was made available (this document is obtainable from the Brotherhood of Man Library). In this publication is an article entitled "Time Bombs" in which the author suggests that the revelators planted certain inaccurate scientific statements in the book in order to prevent it from becoming a fetish. He states "...the revelators incorporated safeguards in the papers that would form The Urantia Book to diminish the tendency to regard it as an object of worship. What safeguards did they use? Suppose they decided to make sure that mortals reading it understood that some cosmological statements in the book would be found to be inaccurate". -
Should Earth Get Demoted from Planet Status Just Like Pluto?
IOSR Journal of Applied Physics (IOSR-JAP) e-ISSN: 2278-4861.Volume 10, Issue 3 Ver. I (May. – June. 2018), PP 15-19 www.iosrjournals.org Should Earth Get Demoted From Planet Status Just Like Pluto? Dipak Nath Assistant Professor, HOD, Department of Physics, Sao Chang Govt College, Tuensang;Nagaland, India. Corresponding Author: Dipak Nath Abstract: Clyde.W. Tombough discovered Pluto on march13, 1930. From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was classified as Planet. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer solar system, notably the scattered disc object Eris in 2005, which is 27% more massive than Pluto. On august-24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined what it means to be a Planet within the solar system. This definition excluded Pluto as a Planet added it as a member of the new category “Dwarf Planet” along with Eris and Ceres. There were many reasons why Pluto got demoted to dwarf planet status, one of which was that it couldn't clear its orbit of asteroids and other debris. But Earth's orbit is also crowded...too crowded for Earth to be a planet? Earth is indeed in a very crowded orbit, surrounded by tens of thousands of asteroids and other objects. The presence of so many asteroids seems like a serious problem for Earth's claim that it has cleared its neighborhood. And Earth isn't alone in this problem - Jupiter is surrounded by some 100,000 Trojan asteroids, and there's similar clutter around Mars and Neptune. -
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.