Universe Today - September 11, 2002

Fraser's News
One Year Since September 11th
Image credit: Space Imaging
Here you go, one year later, a collection of images taken by the IKONOS satellite. You can see the original World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon before the attacks, shortly after, and then over the course of the last year through the cleanup process - a colossal tragedy seen from an altitude of 680 km.

Take care,

Fraser Cain
Publisher, Universe Today

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Sep 10, 2002, 9:04pm



Space Flight
Research Uncovers New Kuiper Belt Mystery
Image credit: SWRI
Although the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects located past the orbit of Neptune, was only discovered in 1992, it's already presented a host of mysteries. One mystery is why an unusually large number of these objects have small satellites orbiting them - 8 out of the 500 objects discovered so far have had satellites. The high number brings into question the traditional theory that they're caused by collisions.

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Sep 10, 2002, 8:45pm



Astronomy
NASA Awards $825 Million Contract for Hubble Successor
Image credit: NASA
NASA announced today that it has awarded an $825 million contract to aerospace firm TRW to build the replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope: The James Webb Space Telescope. Named for NASA's second administrator, this new observatory will launch in 2010 and operate 1.5 million km away from the Earth (Hubble is in low-Earth orbit). If all goes as planned, the observatory's 6 metre mirror will offer a tremendous leap in resolution over Hubble.

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Sep 10, 2002, 8:10pm



Space Flight
Japanese H-IIA Launches
Image credit: NASDA
A Japanese H-2A rocket successfully launched from Tanegashima Space Center today, carrying two experimental satellites. It launched the Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS) spacecraft and the Data Relay Test Satellite (DRTS). This is the third successful launch of the H-2A; an upgrade over the H-2 rocket program which suffered a string of launch failures in the 1990s.

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Sep 10, 2002, 7:51pm