Status Report

Space Science News from NASA HQ 19 Jan 2001

By SpaceRef Editor
January 19, 2001
Filed under ,

Whether lightning occurs on Venus has long been a topic of scientific
debate. A search for lightning during the 1998 and 1999 Cassini flybys of
that planet failed to detect high-frequency radio waves commonly associated
with lightning, according to a new study of the
data. http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eournews/2001/january/0117venus-lightning.html

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Astronomers are using Hubble ultraviolet images of nearby galaxies to help
tackle the question of why their distant relatives have such odd shapes.
Based on the Hubble images, not all the faraway galaxies necessarily
possess intrinsically odd shapes. This bears on the question of how, and
how soon, galaxies evolved in the early
universe. http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2001/04/index.html

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Stardust successfully completed its Earth gravity assist on Monday. The
spacecraft took a test image of the moon on its way through our neck of the
cosmic woods, and it looks like we can expect great science when we get to
the comet in 3 years. Details and a cool cursor at
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/

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I’d like to point out a significant update to the Space Science web. Our
Missions pages now include a number of recent missions selected for study,
as well as other potential future missions that are identified in our new
Strategic Plan. Some of them even have their own web pages already. You
might want to scan for new stuff at

missions in study: http://spacescience.nasa.gov/missions/studies.htm
wild ideas for the far future: http://spacescience.nasa.gov/missions/2007+.htm
main Missions page: http://spacescience.nasa.gov/missions/index.htm

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The Web Page of the Week: want to do some science with your
‘puter? There’s a buncha craters on Mars, and somebody has to identify
and classify them. Maybe you? Be a Clickworker – go online and click on
some Mars craters at http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov

SpaceRef staff editor.