NASA probe poised for launch to Jupiter

(Reuters) - A NASA satellite was hoisted aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Wednesday in preparation for launch next week on an unprecedented mission to the heart of Jupiter.

The robotic probe called Juno is scheduled to spend one year cycling inside Jupiter's deadly radiation belts, far closer than any previous orbiting spacecraft, to learn how much water the giant planet holds, what triggers its vast magnetic fields and whether a solid core lies beneath its dense, hot atmosphere.

"Jupiter holds a lot of key secrets about how we formed," said lead scientist Scott Bolton, with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Scientists believe Jupiter was the first planet to form after the birth of the sun, though exactly how that happened is unknown. One key piece of missing data is how much water is inside the giant planet, which circles the sun five times farther away than Earth.

Jupiter, like the sun, is comprised primarily of hydrogen and helium, with a sprinkling of other elements, like oxygen. Scientists believe the oxygen is bound with hydrogen to form water, which can be measured by microwave sounders, one of eight science instruments on Juno.

Jupiter's water content is directly tied to where -- and how -- the planet formed. Some evidence points to a planet that grew in the colder nether-regions of the solar system and then migrated inward. Other computer models show Jupiter formed at about its present location by accumulating ancient icy snowballs.

LARGER THAN SISTER PLANETS

However it grew, Jupiter ended up with a mass more than twice all its sister planets combined, giving it the gravitational muscle to hang on to nearly all of its original building materials.

"That's why it's very interesting to us if we want to go back in time and understand where we came from and how the planets were made" -- which Juno can help NASA do, Bolton said.

Juno's journey to Jupiter will take five years. Upon arrival in July 2016, Juno will thread itself into a narrow region between the planet and the inner edge of its radiation belt. The solar-powered probe will then spend a year orbiting over Jupiter's poles, coming as close as 3,100 miles above its cloud tops.

Only an atmospheric probe released by Galileo, NASA's last Jupiter spacecraft, has come closer, though that spacecraft was able to relay data for only 58 minutes before succumbing to the planet's crushing pressure and intense heat.

Juno's electronic heart is protected in a vault of titanium, but it too will fall to the harsh Jovian radiation environment after about a year. Juno's last move will be to dive into the planet's atmosphere to avoid any chance of contaminating Jupiter's potentially life-bearing moons.

Juno's launch is scheduled for August 5. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver, Colorado. The mission, the second in NASA's lower-cost, quick-turnaround New Frontiers planetary expeditions, will cost $1.1 billion.

source : uk.reuters.com

10 Passengers Not Human

Space shuttle Atlantis was launched on Friday (06/07/2011) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The launch conducted at 22:26 pm, while the mission would last for 12 days. At least four astronauts involved in the mission as well as a shuttle mission last of NASA.

In the 30 years and 134 missions, many roles that run the shuttle, of whom helped launch three major covers the Hubble spacecraft, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the mission of studying Venus and Jupiter, as well as sending a total of 350 astronauts.

Behind the popular thing to do space shuttles, including the delivery of the iPhone 4 into space by Atlantis this time, there are many roles that have not been so well known, of whom there were passengers in addition to the human passengers who also got to fly.

As published in the online version of Wired is that passengers following:

1. Frog
Female frogs were taken in the Endeavour mission in September 1992. The goal is to see the effect on the development of tadpoles mikrogravitasi condition. Half of the eggs produced by female frogs were placed in a centrifuge to simulate a normal environment, while half are left. The result, they grow normally but the tadpoles are left in a condition mikrogravitasi trouble finding the water surface while returning to Earth.

2. Squirrel
Two squirrels were taken in the Challenger mission in May, 1985. Each squirrel named No 3165 and No. 384-80 and were taken to determine the effect on feeding behavior mikrogravitasi conditions. The result, in conditions mikrogravitasi, squirrels becomes frequent sleepiness and loss of appetite.

3. Sea urchin sperm
Sperm were moving faster in conditions mikrogravitasi. It was known at NASA brought urchin sperm into space. Animal sperm were taken through the Atlantis mission in 1997.

4. Transparent fish
Transparent type Medaka fish taken by the space shuttle Columbia in 1984. The fish was named Genki, Cosmo, Miki, and Yume. Unexpectedly, it turns out the fish can reproduce and produce many tillers. Researchers hope, based on these results later on humans could breed the fish in space.

5. Moth eggs
Moth eggs carried in Endeavour's mission in 1994. The results with the moth show that life is shorter and sterile moths.

6. Worms
Experimenting with worms carried in the 2003 Columbia mission, astronauts successfully breed worms. This proves that the successful use of synthetic nutrients.

7. Honeybees
a total of 3000 honey bee was brought to the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. The result, in the honey bee space was also successfully build a nest of thick and not less interesting than on Earth.

8. Jellyfish
A total of 2478 jellyfish carried by space shuttle mission Columbia in 1991. During the nine-day mission, from jellyfish polyp managed to grow into the next life stage called ephyrae.

9. Rat
Based on the results obtained from experiments with mice that carried the space shuttle Columbia in 1998, the mice that developed in conditions of mikrogravitasi have less developed brains, muscles shrink, and the difficulty of repairing the damaged bone.

10. Squid
The squid was taken in the last Endeavour mission this year to study the bacteria that live on its surface. Salmonella, a type of bacteria that changed three times more deadly after returning from space.

Source: ranisuhanda9.blogspot.com

Mars Explorers Spirit

The Spirit of John Wesley Powell should be happy – the famous one-armed regiment of geologists arrived. More than a hundred years have passed since Powell led an expedition in three boats past the Grand Canyon. While the other planets were just a blur in the lenses of telescopes, and about space travel, few even dreamed of.

The Spirit of John Wesley Powell should be happy – the famous one-armed regiment of geologists arrived. More than a hundred years have passed since Powell led an expedition in three boats past the Grand Canyon. While the other planets were just a blur in the lenses of telescopes, and about space travel, few even dreamed of.

Powell lost his right arm in the Civil War, and he would have understood perfectly what work was done by two “one-armed” NASA’s Mars rover and control them from Earth scientists. In January 2004, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars – so began the search for traces of water, probably once existed on this planet.

In the days of Powell’s geologists interested in how the water source pink rocks of the Colorado Plateau, created in him a maze of canyons. These days, experts are studying its role in shaping the landscape of the Red Planet. In 1869, a motley company led by Powell against all odds managed to survive in an almost-hundred-day journey through deadly rapids. Like these brave, the rovers continue to function normally much longer than their designated 90 days. Field geologist Powell, his only hand split the stones and took notes, and rovers with trehsustavnogo manipulator controlled with a camera and a special cutter needed for sampling rocks.

Field research – here’s the main thing that brings the rovers and the old Powell. To geologists, a term he says about the discoveries made after the hard work when you yourself collect samples for compromise rocks and extracts minerals from the earth’s surface.

Field studies give scientists the opportunity to speak with confidence about the geological structure of landscapes, which previously they could only see from afar. Studying the structure of the Grand Canyon, visiting the colorful layers of limestone, sandstone, marble, slate, volcanic rocks and gneiss, Powell climbed the cliffs at kilometer altitude. When he prevailed over the rise to the top, his eyes appeared as a vast panorama of the canyon, and he could sketch in a notebook the plan area. In addition, he accurately determined, from which rocks are distant rocks, based on the color and consistency of their constituent layers. So today, thanks to data obtained by the two rovers, scientists were able to analyze images taken from orbit the Red Planet.

Take, for example, meandering channels are visible on the surface of Mars Withered. They are so similar to channel vast parched rivers, that the assumption of the existence on Mars in some distant era of water seemed justified. However, evidence that was not there. Some scholars have argued that the channels could pave the cold streams of liquid carbon dioxide. Others said that Mars has never been enough of a mild climate and therefore in the liquid state of water could proceed only on a very short time. This is confirmed by the absence of powerful deposits of limestone and other carbonate minerals, which must be left, if Mars had once existed a warm, rich in carbon dioxide atmosphere. But now the rovers Spirit and Opportunity have found direct and conclusive evidence that Mars once was splashing water.

Read more: http://scienceray.com/technology/mars-explorers-spirit/#ixzz1OAiPPSs4

Water on The Moon: More Than You Expected?

The entrance of the ongoing analysis of experimental results LCROSS experts NASA gradually come to the conclusion that his primary goal, in general, been achieved: in the polar regions of our natural satellite, never illuminated by the Sun, found significant amounts of water, which may in future be used to supply long-term manned lunar base.

The entrance of the ongoing analysis of experimental results LCROSS experts NASA gradually come to the conclusion that his primary goal, in general, been achieved: in the polar regions of our natural satellite, never illuminated by the Sun, found significant amounts of water, which may in future be used to supply long-term manned lunar base.

After a more detailed study of the spectral data the researchers concluded that the collision with the Moon Centaur upper stage led to the emergence of two “waves” of emissions of the substance. The first consisted mainly of water vapor and fine dust (they rose at a relatively high altitude), the second – of the larger debris flying at small angles to the surface. The fact that in the first fraction of water is present, it became obvious after decoding the data received on-board spectrometer LCROSS. Told Tony Colaprete of the Keldysh Research Center. Ames (Anthony Colaprete, NASA Ames Research Center). He also said that the volatile component of the emissions contained several compounds of the formula to be clarified. Thus, another experiment on the “bombardment of the Moon” can be considered quite successful. Ballistics NASA, in turn, note the high accuracy of the “hit» – Centaur crashed into the lunar surface about 200 m from the calculation point.



With regard to water, then its in the study area are many: the site covered by spectrometry, represents only part of the square 20-meter crater formed after the collapse of the upper stage, but registered within it the mass of the evolved water vapor up to 100 kg (with a minimum score) . The assumption that scientists are watching the evaporation of ice, “namerzshego” on the booster during preflight training, was excluded at once – in such quantities on the surface of the block it was significantly absent. The main “witness” confirmed the presence of water molecules, was formed in their decay hydroxyl free radical with its characteristic line radiation in the ultraviolet range.

Deposites of ice in cold regions of the moon, apparently, have not been preserved since its formation from the “wreckage” of collision of proto-Earth with a large body planetopodobnym about 4 billion years ago and formed much later and are replenished so far due to condensation of light molecules contained in the interplanetary medium. If so, these deposits will be a valuable source of information about past solar system – in a similar way to our planet permafrost keeps “memory” of a long-past geological epochs.



Read more: http://scienceray.com/technology/water-on-the-moon-more-than-you-expected/#ixzz1O5oPLHzJ