Jonathan’s Space Report No. 520 2004 Feb 11
The Progress No. 248 (M-48) cargo ship was undocked from Zvezda at
0835:56 on Jan 28 and deorbited at 1311 UTC over the Pacific, completing
the ISS 12P mission. The new cargo ship, Progress No. 260 (Progress
M1-11) was launched from Baykonur on Jan 29 at 1158:08 on ISS mission
13P and docked with the Zvezda module on the Space Station at 1313:11
UTC on Jan 31. The new Progress carries cargo including experiments for
the ESA/Netherlands DELTA mission and two new Orlan spacesuits, serials
M-25 and M-26. It also carries a replacement flexhose for the Destiny
lab window (culprit in last month’s air leak) and equipment to be
installed on Zvezda to support docking by the new European ATV cargo
ship Jules Verne.
Opportunity began roving on Mars at 0950 UTC on Jan 31. (Parachute and
heat shield separation time for Opportunity was of course 0452-0453 UTC
on Jan 25, not 0504 UTC as I said in JSR 519.)
Opportunity has now peeped over the crater rim and seen its parachute
and backshell lying on the Meridiani plains beyond. Spirit’s file system
was reformatted on Feb 4 and it has now resumed its exploration of the
Gusev region.
Location of the MER landings:
(Areocentric) (IAU Areographic)
Spirit 14.57S 175.47E 14.93S 184.53W
Opportunity 1.95S 354.47E 1.98S 5.53W
(While one JPL release gave the Spirit location to 0.0001 deg, their
superimposed image is significantly off the later known location
of the lander. Anyone who has more accurate coords, please forward them
– I’d like to catalog the separate positions of the heat shields and
backshells, which are about 0.01 deg away from the landers).
SES Americom’s AMC-10 satellite was launched on Feb 5 by a Lockheed
Martin/ILS Atlas IIAS from Cape Canaveral. The satellite is a Lockheed
Martin A2100 with a launch mass of 2315 kg and 907 kg dry (Thanks to David
Legangneux for the mass data). After launch at 2346 UTC, Centaur AC-165
reached a 185 x 185 km orbit at 2355 UTC. The second Centaur burn at
0009 UTC on Feb 6 put the satellite in geostationary transfer orbit.
AMC-10 will replace Satcom C-4. The AMC (Americom) series of satellites
descends from the original RCA Americom system first launched in 1975
as one of the earliest private telecom satellite networks.
Cutting Space Science?
———————————-
Although the President’s 2005 budget request to Congress includes an
overall small increase for NASA to pay for new human space exploration,
some aspects of space science and astronomy are under the axe. The
detailed status of the NASA space science budget remains unclear, but
the overall picture is not encouraging, with immediate cuts to some
programs and a forecast of a long term continuing (inflation-adjusted)
decrease for overall science to pay for the new human exploration
intiative.
The total extrasolar astronomy budget (Origins and SEU themes) has
remained stable this year, but there have been major reallocations with
no consultation with the science peer-review community. Although some
programs such as the JWST infrared telescope and the search for
extrasolar planets have managed to argue that they are part of
`exploration’ and for now survive unscathed or even boosted (until the
real costs of the CEV program require further cuts) some of the most
scientifically successful parts of NASA, including the Explorer program
and the Structure/Evolution of the Universe theme (SEU) appear to be
facing a bleak long-term future.
Cuts are being made to the Explorer program previously extolled as a
flagship example of a federal program (recent Explorer missions included
WMAP, which determined the age of the Universe). MIDEX and SMEX
missions are to be delayed and cut back. (One colleague commented that
the idea that the Explorers don’t do exploration was ‘positively
Orwellian’). Money is also being taken from the budget of the
Constellation X mission, highly rated by the National Academy of
Sciences; the mission will be postponed for an unknown amount of time.
The Beyond Einstein probes, previously expected to start getting funding
this year, are to be indefinitely delayed.
Editorial (last one for a while I hope)
———
While the Station program was over budget and slipping, and the Mars
probes were failing, missions like the Explorers and Chandra were a
bright spot for NASA. Now our hard work and success are to be rewarded
with significant cutbacks. Let me say it clearly: I support the idea of
an enhanced human exploration program, but I strongly oppose paying for
it at the cost of losing the successors to Chandra and WMAP, and the
chance of a partial replacement for Hubble (which JWST is not). I
believe there is strong public support for basic research, there are
clear technological and educational benefits to understanding the
extreme physics these missions study, and the US national interest would
be best served by protecting the relatively small amount of money in the
successful and productive program to study the deep universe, even at
the cost of slight stretchout of the ambitious exploration program. At
the very least, the space community should be aware that these decisions
are being made rather than passing over them in silence – it’s such a
small part of the budget that analyses in magazines like AvWeek didn’t
mention it.
Table of Recent Launches
———————–
Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.DES. Jan 11 0413 Estrela do Sul Zenit-3SL Odyssey Comms 01A Jan 29 1158 Progress M1-11 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 02A Feb 5 2346 AMC-10 Atlas IIAS Canaveral SLC36A Comms 03A
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org | | USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back-------------------
