The second flight of the Atlas 3B rocket lifted off from Florida today, carrying an EchoStar 7 direct broadcasting satellite into orbit. This is an important launch for Lockheed Martin, as many of the parts of the upcoming Atlas 5, due for liftoff in May, were tested on this flight, including the upper stage booster. The flight was delayed twice, for a total of 30 minutes due to minor technical problems, but the rest of the launch seems to have gone flawless.
Martian Floods Could be Recent
Scientists from the University of Arizona believe that water may have erupted onto the surface of Mars as recently as 10 million years ago. As much as 600 cubic kilometres of water (four times the water in Lake Erie) may have poured out of fissures in the Cerberus Plains just north of the Martian equator. The scientists formed their theory after studying images taken of the region by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.
Odyssey Mapping Mission Begins
After months of orbital manoeuvres, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft is ready to get to work searching for water on the surface of Mars. NASA flight controllers instructed the spacecraft to turn its scientific equipment towards the Red Planet on Monday. Operators expect it will take a few days to fully calibrate the equipment, and hope to release the first images to the public on March 1.
Families Might Make the Best Spacefarers
According to John Moore, a University of Florida anthropologist, families might have the right social dynamic to take on long duration space voyages – such as the colonization of another star, which could take 200 years to reach. By organizing the crew along family lines, Moore believes a crew would be better protected from problems that could occur over a multigenerational journey. In fact, in order to have enough genetic diversity to seed a new plant, Moore believes you only need a starting population of 150-180 people.
First Detection of Short Gamma Ray Burst Afterglow
Scientists believe they have spotted the first evidence of a radiation afterglow from short gamma-ray bursts. The afterglow from the bursts was discovered by an international team of astronomers while poring through data gathered by NASA’s Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. It’s believed longer gamma-ray bursts are caused by the collapse of massive stars, while shorter bursts might be from colliding neutron stars or black holes. By studying the afterglow, astronomers might have another tool to uncover the size, distance, and cause of the bursts.
Saturn Obscured by the Moon on Wednesday
Astronomers will have a treat on Wednesday when the planet Saturn sneaks behind a quarter moon and then return approximately an hour or so later. This planetary eclipse is called an occultation, and it will be best viewed from North-eastern part of North America. The exact time of the occultation depends on your location, so follow the links to find the various times in different cities.
Dust Disks Could Indicate Planets
A newly detected dust ring, just outside the orbit of Saturn could help astronomers have come up with a new strategy to shortlist star systems that might contain planets. Astronomers from the European Space Agency believe that this dusty ring is being maintained and replenished through collisions of objects in the solar system, like comets and asteroids. These distant dust clouds should be detectible, as well as swaths cleared out by planets.
New Evidence Supports Formation Theory for Rapidly Spinning Pulsars
Combining images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as data from radio observatories, astronomers from the European Space Agency have new understanding of a very unusual star system – a fast spinning pulsar and a giant red star. Although 90 of these “millisecond” pulsars have been discovered by astronomers, they haven’t figured out what gets them spinning so quickly. Perhaps through absorbing matter from another star, the pulsar is spun up by the transfer of energy that occurs when material is consumed.
Moon Could Still Have Molten Interior
Astronomers have calculated that the Moon, pulled by the gravity of the Earth and the Sun, may bulge as much as 10 centimetres over the course of its 27 day journey around our planet. The bulging could be caused by a molten slush surrounding the Moon’s core. The measurements were gathered by firing a laser pulse from the Earth to the Moon, and it measures the round-trip distance to an accuracy of 2 centimetres.
New Images from Mars Global Surveyor Released
NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor began its second year of extended operations at the beginning of February, and recently delivered a whole new batch of images of the Red Planet. These images were taken over course of the spacecraft’s first year of extended operations.