Дата: 20 января 1998 (1998-01-20)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: Planning Begins On Asteroid 'Nano-Rover'
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From The "JPL Universe"
Special issue: 1997 in review
January 9, 1998
Planning begins on asteroid 'nano-rover'
By MARY BETH MURRILL
A formal project office was established in 1997 to manage the
U.S. contribution to the Japanese-managed Muses-C mission to
collect and return to Earth a sample from an asteroid.
This innovative mission will use new flight technology,
including solar electric propulsion, to send a spacecraft to
asteroid 4660 Nereus and deliver a JPL-developed rover, which
measures about the size of a shoebox, to the asteroid's surface.
The Japanese Muses-C spacecraft will also fire explosive charges
into the asteroid, collect the samples that are ejected from the
impacts, and return the samples to Earth in a capsule for
laboratory analysis. The mission is scheduled for launch in
2002.
"This represents an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan's
space engineers and scientists to combine their expertise to
achieve major science and technology goals in a cost-constrained
environment," said Ross Jones, project manager for the U.S.
portion of the mission called Muses-C ("N" stands for "NASA").
Overall management of the Muses-C project resides at Japan's
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.
In addition to providing the rover, JPL will arrange for the
testing of the Muses-C reentry heat shield at NASA's Ames
Research Center, arrange for supplemental Deep Space Network
tracking of the spacecraft, and assist in spacecraft navigation.
JPL's responsibilities also include arranging for recovery of
the return capsule and performance of work to meet the
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.
The asteroid samples will be returned to a landing site in
the U.S, and American and Japanese investigators will
collaborate on shared data from the rover and the spacecraft.
In 1997, the JPL Muses-CN project team completed hardware and
software integration of a nano-rover prototype. Performance
evaluations of the camera and spectrometer for the rover also
began, as did research and analysis of navigation and sample
reentry work. Preliminary plans for the heat shield design
review and testing are in place at the Ames Research Center.
Muses-CN project highlights at JPL in the coming year will
include the completion of the rover engineering model design,
and release of the announcement of opportunity to the science
community, beginning the selection process for scientists who
will be investigators on the project.
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Дата: 20 января 1998 (1998-01-20)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: STARDUST Mission To Start Spacecraft Assembly & Test
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From The "JPL Universe"
Special issue: 1997 in review
January 9, 1998
Stardust mission to start spacecraft assembly, test
By MARY BETH MURRILL
Stardust, the "faster, better, cheaper" Discovery Program
mission that will send a spacecraft to gather a sample from a
comet, has met the milestones necessary to begin assembly and
test of the spacecraft hardware and software in early January at
Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver.
Scheduled for launch in February 1999, the Stardust
spacecraft will embark on a seven-year journey through the coma
and to within about 150 kilometers of the nucleus of Comet Wild-
2 (pronounced "VILT-2). It will be the first space mission to
gather dust and other material from a comet and bring it back to
Earth for scientific analysis.
Stardust's scientific bounty from its five-year voyage will
also include samples of the interstellar dust that passes
through the solar system. Return of this interstellar material
will provide scientists with their first opportunity for
laboratory study of the composition of the interstellar medium.
"We've experienced good cost and schedule performance in
1997," said Stardust Project Manager Dr. Kenneth Atkins. "We've
learned lessons from previous Discovery projects like Mars
Pathfinder, and we've been working to leverage common
efficiencies with the other Mars projects being worked by JPL
and Lockheed Martin." The project finalized its designs in June
and has completed and collected almost all the hardware and
software components in preparation for the system assembly and
test, Atkins said.
In February, Stardust mission engineers from JPL and Lockheed
Martin will convene for a parachute drop test for the Stardust
sample return reentry capsule system on the snowy desert plateau
of the Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City. The
test range is the scheduled delivery site for Stardust's sample
return in January 2006.
Comet Wild-2 is a 'fresh' comet that was recently (in 1974)
deflected by Jupiter's gravity from an earlier orbit lying much
farther out in the solar system. Having spent most of the last
4.6 billion years in the coldest, most distant reaches of the
solar system, Wild-2 represents a well-preserved example of the
fundamental building blocks out of which the solar system
formed.
Both the comet and interstellar dust samples will be
collected in aerogel, a lightweight transparent silica gel, the
lowest density solid material in the world. (Aerogel was most
recently used as a lightweight insulating material to protect
the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner's electronics from the harsh, cold
climate of Mars.)
In November, the project received tens of thousands of
responses to its invitation to the public to "send your name to
a comet." JPL's Microdevices Lab will etch the names on a
silicon wafer that will be placed on the Stardust reentry
capsule. The names, collected in partnership with The Planetary
Society, will make a round trip to Comet Wild 2, returning to
Earth in the sample return capsule.
###
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Дата: 20 января 1998 (1998-01-20)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: US Space Program Turns 40 With Anniversary Of Explorer 1
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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Mary Beth Murrill
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 14, 1998
U.S. SPACE PROGRAM TURNS 40 WITH ANNIVERSARY OF EXPLORER 1
The U.S. space program turns 40 on Saturday, January 31 --
and the public is invited to share in the celebration when space
pioneers and others gather at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium at 8
p.m. to revisit the historic launch of the Explorer 1 satellite,
developed by Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) four
decades ago, before NASA was even born. The event is free of
charge.
"Explorer 1: Forty Years After, A Look Back and a Look
Ahead" will feature Dr. William Pickering, the former director of
JPL and a pioneering space telecommunications researcher who led
the Laboratory's work in the Explorer era. He will describe the
political, technical and scientific challenges and benefits of
the Eisenhower-era race into space after the Soviet Union stunned
the world with the launch of Sputnik in 1957. JPL's current
director, Dr. Edward C. Stone, will follow with a presentation on
all the exciting space discoveries made since then, and offer his
vision for future explorations.
Caltech's JPL was still operated as a research laboratory
for the U.S. Army when it was selected in the autumn of 1957 to
develop the first U.S. satellite, science package, communications
system and the high-speed upper stages for the Army's Redstone
rocket that would launch the tiny, 9-kilogram (20-pound) Explorer
1. JPL and the Army completed the assignment and successfully
launched the satellite in less than three months.
The intensive effort was accomplished by a team of experts
from U.S. academia and the military, along with top World War II
German rocket scientists such as Dr. Werner von Braun, who
emigrated to the U.S. in the postwar years to help lead
development of American rocket capability. A globally linked
telecommunications system developed by JPL tracked Explorer 1 and
received its scientific data as it circled the Earth. Amateur
radio operators around the world were invited to listen in on
Explorer 1's radio communications, including one key amateur
radio shack operated largely by JPL ham radio operators at the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's substation in Temple City, about 24
kilometers (15 miles) from JPL.
In late 1958, JPL was reassigned from the U.S. Army to NASA
when the civilian space agency was created, and has led the
world's exploration of space with robotic spacecraft since then.
Still operated as a division of Caltech, JPL has sent spacecraft
to all of the known planets except Pluto, and this year will
launch important astronomy and planetary exploration missions to
comets, asteroids and Mars, along with many Earth-observing
efforts.
For more information about the January 31 event at Caltech,
contact JPL's Public Services Office at (818) 354-0112.
#####
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Дата: 20 января 1998 (1998-01-20)
От: Alexander Bondugin
Тема: STARDUST Update - January 16, 1998
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STARDUST Status Report
January 16, 1998
Ken Atkins
STARDUST Project Manager
Hi Stardusters! ....... Here's our report from the bridge for this week.
Assembly Test and Launch Operations phase activity begin ramping up this
week with panels arriving in the high-bay area at Lockheed-Martin. We are
still in the process of final security approval at Lockheed-Martin before
images of the assembly area will start being posted on this website. We
expect this to be resolved very soon. So keep watching. I know this sounds a
bit like waiting for the weather forecast on the 10 pm news, but we are
working the problem and we will succeed.
The Flight Sample Return Capsule successfully completed centrifuge loads
testing. This is an important milestone and signals its availablity to start
loading the flight electronics, etc.
The Cometary & Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) Engineering Model
(Remember, this is one of our instruments to find out what Stardust really
is.) has been delivered, bench tested by the CIDA team and cabled up in the
Spacecraft Test Lab (STL) for interface testing which is just getting
underway. This testing will allow us to test the electronic interfaces
between this instrument and the spacecraft's data system. We want to take
simulated impact data from the sensor and flow-it all the way through the
flight and ground systems to a scientific display station. We'll then be
sure CIDA can "phone home" from the comet. Success in this test will clear
the way for our German colleagues to complete the fabrication of the actual
flight unit.
Outreach: a STARDUST Fellowship opportunity for teachers was announced and
posted on the website under Education, What's New, and on the home page.
This excellent opportunity is sponsored through the Challenger Center, one
of three education partners. If you're a teacher....go for it!
Outreach: The first microchip containing thousands of names collected during
the fall; letters from the target comet, Wild -2, discoverer Paul Wild, from
the Principal Investigator and others; along with photos of the development
teams was delivered to Lockheed-Martin for installation in the Sample Return
Capsule. Because of the significant interest by the public in this
opportunity, a second chip is being planned. So once again.....stay
tuned....if you or any of your friends missed the first opportunity. It's
amazing to see a small chip the size of your little fingernail contining
such a huge amount of information. Look for its picture elswhere on the
site.
See you next week!
For more information on the STARDUST mission - the first ever comet sample
return mission - please visit the STARDUST home page:
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/
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