Universe Today - December 7, 1999 |
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the U N I V E R S E T O D A Y Space Exploration News From Around the Internet, Updated Every Weekday. December 7th, 1999 - Issue #133 http://www.universetoday.com info@universetoday.com To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER". An HTML version of this Newsletter is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/html/misc/today.html ================================================= Want to know who is hiring in the space industry? Ball Aerospace, Moog and Panamsat are three of the companies which posted new jobs last week on their web site. To find out who are the other ones, why don't you subscribe to the Space Careers weekly newsletter? Space Careers: http://www.spacelinks.com/SpaceCareers/?ut ================================================= MISSION CONTROL, OVER on SpaceWatch This week, Mike Gentry from NASA's Public Affairs Office joins your hosts JD and Jennifer. Few know NASA history as well as Mike, who is responsible for 25,000 photographs in NASA's archives. Since the days when he stood by for the Apollo 11, Mike has become a friend and a colleague to generations of astronauts, including Michael Collins and Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon. WATCH IT TODAY! at 2:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time http://www.spacewatch.com ************************************** -- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY -- * Polar Lander Still MIA, Outlook Doesn't Look Good * Microprobes Silent Too * History Shows, Mars Eats Spacecraft * Damaged Cable Could Add Delays to Discovery's Launch POLAR LANDER STILL MIA, OUTLOOK DOESN'T LOOK GOOD ------------------------- Engineers attempting to communicate with the Mars Polar Lander have been working through their troubleshooting options to get the spacecraft to respond. The "last best" opportunity to communicate with the Lander was a failure Monday evening. From this point on, any chance of contacting the $150 million probe is remote at best. Still, NASA hasn't declared the mission a failure... yet. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/marsprobe991207.html http://www.astronomynow.com/mars/mpl/status/index.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_553000/553861.stm http://cnn.com/1999/TECH/space/12/07/mars.lander.02/index.html http://explorezone.com/archives/99_12/06_mars_lander.htm http://www.foxnews.com/national/120799/mars.sml http://www.msnbc.com/news/304520.asp http://www.spaceviews.com/1999/12/07a.html MICROPROBES SILENT TOO ------------------------- Not only has the Mars Polar Lander been silent, but the twin microprobes, which detached from the spacecraft prior to arrival at Mars and made a separate decent. Designed to search for water on the surface of Mars, they were supposed to make contact with the Mars Global Surveyor, which would relay their communications back to Earth. http://abcnews.go.com/ABC2000/DailyNews/marspolar_probes991206.html HISTORY SHOWS, MARS EATS SPACECRAFT ------------------------- Although there have been two failed missions to Mars this year; they're in good company. Both the US and Russia have a long string of failures in sending missions to the Red Planet. From the first failed Russian craft sent in 1960 to the failed Mars Observer sent in 1993, a very low percentage have actually completed their mission. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_552000/552574.stm DAMAGED CABLE COULD ADD DELAYS TO DISCOVERY'S LAUNCH ------------------------- During routine inspections of the Space Shuttle Discovery's main engine compartment, engineers discovered a damaged cable which is used to send commands to one of the three main engines. A one-day delay may be required to replace the cable. NASA isn't sure its replacement will cause a delay from its Dec. 11th launch, but it's a possibility. http://cnn.com/1999/TECH/space/12/07/shuttle.01.ap/index.html http://www.flatoday.com/space/explore/stories/1999b/120799c.htm ************************************** Space News from SpaceDaily.com for today Pop-Up Optics Expand Battlefield View http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/ngst-99i.html China Prepares To Test New ICBM http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/china-99x.html Europe To Launch X-Ray Space Telescope http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/xmm-99b.html On Mars No One Can Hear You Scream http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/mars-polar99-99o.html Satellite Launch Postponed http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/jawsat-99b.html Mars Invades Earth http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/life-99g.html Lighting Up The Van Allen Belts http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/earth-magnetic-99d.html Orbital Containment http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/life-99g3.html Lander Failure Highlights Cost Dilemma http://www.spacedaily.com/spacecast/news/mars-polar99-99r.html To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER". All contents copyright (c) 1999 Universe Today |