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Excerpts from JPL mission updates are provided as a public service as part |
Background screen credits: NGC 5775 - Imaged March 21/22, 2001 using the 16" Kitt Peak Visitors Center telescope as part of the Advanced Observing Program.
"NASA's Cassini spacecraft continues making new and exciting discoveries. New findings include wandering and rubble-pile moons; new and clumpy Saturn rings; splintering storms and a dynamic magnetosphere.
"For the last seven months it has been a nonstop, science-packed mission. It has been a whirlwind, and already we have many new results," said Dr. Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif."
"For the multinational Cassini-Huygens mission, NASA provided the large Cassini spacecraft, which will begin orbiting Saturn July 1, 2004, and the European Space Agency provided the Huygens probe, which will parachute into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, on Jan. 14, 2005."
For the latest mission status reports, visit Cassini Mission Status web page. The speed and location of the spacecraft along its flightpath can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page.
"n Friday, February 11, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully performed the mission's first trajectory correction maneuver to aim it for its encounter with Comet Tempel 1 this July. Deep Impact launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on January 12."
For the latest mission status reports, visit http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact and http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/.
"Genesis Principal Investigator Donald Burnett was all smiles this past holiday season thanks to Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Curation team, delivering portions of the jolly ol' Sun for analysis here on Earth.
Burnett received several 5-7 mm-sized wafer fragments, as did Co-Investigators at JSC, early December 2004.
Co-Investigators at Washington University in St. Louis received a cut piece of the Polished Aluminum Collector on Jan. 4, 2005. This was the first delivery supporting the "early science return" activity that will establish solar isotopic and elemental abundances of noble gases."
The latest status reports can be read at the Genesis Mission web site. Find out more about the Genesis mission at the Genesis Mission and Genesis Mission at JPL web sites. Visit Where Is Genesis Now?
Stardust LPSC 2004 Abstracts
"Abstracts of the Stardust science results from the Comet Wild 2 encounter are now available here (Adobe Acrobat reader required): ftp://www.lpi.usra.edu/pub/outgoing/lpsc2004/full07.pdf"
For more information on the Stardust mission - the first ever comet sample return mission - please visit the Stardust home page.
For more information on the GALEX mission - What's New!
"The tracks made by the rover on the sandy surface of Meridiani Planum are not quite as visible from orbit as are the tracks made in Gusev Crater by the MER-A rover, Spirit. The dustier surface at the Spirit site increases the contrast between the tracks and the surrounding surfaces. Indeed, some parts of the track made by Opportunity are not visible in this image. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left, the 100 meter scale bar equals about 109 yards, and north is toward the top."
Mars Global Surveyor Images - February 17-23, 2005
"The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available:
Information about how to submit requests is online at the new Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at http://www.msss.com/plan/intro"
Newly-released MOC images can be seen in the MOC Gallery, a web site maintained by Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built and operates MOC for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA.
Mars Global Surveyor has begun its eighth year orbiting the red planet. MGS reached Mars on 12 September 1997. The first MOC images were obtained on 15 September 1997.
Visit the MGS pages at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/index.html. There are over 134,000 images of Mars from the MGS, check out the newest MGS images of the surface of Mars.
"Odyssey has accomplished all of its mission-success criteria," said Dr. Philip Varghese, project manager for Odyssey at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The spacecraft has been examining Mars in detail since February 2002, more than a full Mars year of about 23 Earth months. NASA has approved an extended mission through September 2006."
Mars Odyssey Themis Images February 21-25, 2005
The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/"
Visit the Mars Odyssey Mission page.
"Spirit has spent the last 70 sols climbing up the "Columbia Hills" to reach "Larry's Lookout," a point on "Cumberland Ridge." Having accomplished the trek up to Larry's Lookout, Spirit is getting into position to shoot a panorama of the "Tennessee Valley" located below. Spirit is still in excellent health."
Opportunity Status: Opportunity Gets New Flight Software - sol 374-379, February 22, 2005
"Opportunity received a software tuneup that should improve its mobility capabilities. With the new load on board, Opportunity booted into it and began an initial checkout. After a short test drive with promising results, there remains more checkout to do before blessing the load and having the rover's sister craft, Spirit, boot up the new software. Atmospheric opacity has been stable, with tau around 0.9. Solar power is still relatively plentiful and Opportunity continues to be in excellent health."
Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page.
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