Status Report

Space Science News from NASA HQ 30 Mar 2001

By SpaceRef Editor
March 30, 2001
Filed under ,

Greetings, my long-lost readers,

Sorry for my absence the last couple weeks. My real job has been a bit
nutty, and then I had to go and squeeze in a couple of Messier
Marathons. I managed to get 109 out of 110. Darned M30! Anyhow, here’s
some recent news from around the Universe:

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First off, time to turn towards sunny Florida and watch as we get ready to
launch the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft to the Red Planet on April 7. The
spacecraft and rocket are on the pad. The project’s web page, including a
live video feed from Cape Canaveral, is at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/

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There’s a whole lotta activity going on at the Sun’s surface right now,
including the largest sunspot in 10 years and a large coronal mass ejection
that was launched our way yesterday. There may be some good aurorae
tonight and/or tomorrow. Try these links for more:

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-059.txt,
http://www.spaceweather.com/

Meanwhile, it seems that fast-moving solar eruptions apparently overtake
and often devour their slower
kin. Yum. ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-056.txt

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Jupiter’s radiation belts turned out to be harsher than expected when
Cassini flew by. Besides being scientifically interesting in its own
right, this finding could affect the design of future missions to study
Jupiter’s atmosphere and internal structure. A nasty place to visit at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/belts.html

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Three astronauts have been named to complete the STS-109 shuttle crew
already in training for the next mission to upgrade our Hubble Space
Telescope in late 2001. There’s a press release at
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-054.txt , and check out the
HST SM3B page at http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/servicing-missions/sm3b.html

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White dwarfs shed light on dark matter — a bunch of very faint, burned-out
stars have been found on the outskirts of our galaxy. It appears that
there are enough of them to account for a significant fraction of the
Universe’s missing mass. But there still has to be a lot of even weirder
stuff out there. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0103/23darkmatter/

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Although the Moon is geologically pretty dead, there have been reports
(mostly not too credible) of visible activity for centuries. Newly
analyzed data from our (now deceased) Lunar Prospector spacecraft may
confirm evidence of residual interior venting of gases in a few areas on
the moon’s nearside surface. Story
at http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0103/23darkmatter/ , LP at
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/

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We have selected four new teams to become part of the agency’s Astrobiology
Institute, a national and international research consortium that studies
the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life on Earth and in the
universe. Press release at
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-049.txt

Meanwhile, the Institute homepage, which runs a lot of good articles on the
search for life, water on Mars, etc. is at http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/
. They’re having a webcast on Monday of a joint scientific conference with
the National Institutes of Health, on such subjects as biofilms, oxidative
damage/biological forms of iron, and extremophiles, and you surely don’t
want to miss that!

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Massive Infant Stars Rock their Cradle – HST results show how massive young
stars sculpt the gas and dust in their
neighborhood. http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/11/index.html

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Planetary scientists have suggested that the Tharsis rise in Mars’ Western
Hemisphere is key to many of the Red Planet’s mysteries, including its
large-scale shape and gravity field, and its early climate and water
distribution. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=4125

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Scientists have had their first inside look at ice layers, frozen debris
and a surprising channel of water deep beneath an Antarctic ice
stream. Maybe some day a probe like this could be swimming around under
Europa’s ice cap. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/borehole.html

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Cheers!

SpaceRef staff editor.