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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.
"The Cassini spacecraft has discovered the long, cracked features dubbed "tiger stripes" on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus are very young -- between 10 and 1,000 years young.
These findings support previous results showing the moon's southern pole is active. The pole had episodes of geologic activity as recently as 10 years ago. These cracked features are approximately 130 kilometers long (80 miles), spaced about 40 kilometers (25 miles) apart and run roughly parallel to one another.
The cracks act like vents. They spew vapor and fine ice water particles that have become ice crystals. This crystallization process can be dated, which helped scientists pin down the age of the features."
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.
"Ever since Deep Impact's spectacularly successful collision with comet Tempel 1, Principal Investigator Michael A'Hearn and mission colleagues at the University of Maryland and seven other institutions have been working at top speed to analyze the huge amount of raw data collected during the brief encounter. The mission's principal findings will be published in a September issue of the journal Science."
For the latest mission status reports, visit http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact and http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/.
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.
Launch / Days since Launch = Nov. 7, 1996 / 3190 days
Start of Mapping / Days since Start of Mapping = April 1, 1999 / 2330 days
Total Mapping Orbits = 28,792
Total Orbits = 30,475 (1,683 Pre-Mapping Orbits)
Recent Events:
Background Sequences - MGS continues nominal Beta-Supplement operations for this period.
The spacecraft is operating nominally in performing the beta-supplement daily recording and transmission of science data. The mm455 sequence has executed successfully from 05-223 (08/11/05) and will terminate this evening. The mm456 sequence, successfully uplinked on 05-227 (08/15/05), will begin execution on 05-230 (08/18/05). The mm456 sequence will use a roll/yaw offset of 8 degrees.
Other - No Targeting Observations were performed this week. MGS has successfully completed 1,523 ROTOs to date."
Mars Global Surveyor Images - August 18-24, 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 will complete 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 200,000 images of Mars from the MGS, check out the newest MGS images of the surface of Mars.
Mars Odyssey Themis Images July 25-29, 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 made 54 meters (177 feet) of forward progress towards the summit of "Husband Hill" this past week. This is excellent progress considering Spirit is on restricted sols, so it can only drive every other sol. (Restricted sols occur when the timing of the communications pass from the Odyssey orbiter is too late in the sol to gather vital location and health information about the rover after it executed recent commands. The team back on Earth must wait until the next sol to find out where and how the rover is.) After sol 576's drive, the team was able to determine highest summit point, which is informally named "Summit 1." Previously, the team believed "Summit 2" was slightly higher. Furthermore, traversing to Summit 2 was deemed difficult, so Spirit is headed towards Summit 1, which is roughly 70 meters (230 feet) away."
Opportunity Status: Opportunity Biting into 'Strawberry' - sol 552-559, Aug 19, 2005
"Opportunity completed a study of the cobble area by taking a close look at the cobble "Arkansas" and a nearby soil target named "Reiner Gamma" with the instruments on the robotic arm. A 3-meter (10-foot) bump took the rover to an outcrop dubbed "Fruit Basket" for an intensive investigation of targets there. So far Opportunity has studied "Lemon Rind" with its complete suite of robotic arm instruments, and begun an inspection of "Strawberry." The plan is to drive east to the "Erebus Highway" after finishing work at Fruit Basket."
Visit the Mars Exploration Rover page.
"NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully tested its main engines by making a successful trajectory adjustment for reaching the red planet on March 10, 2006.
The spacecraft fired all six main thrusters for 15 seconds on Saturday, Aug. 27. The engine burn followed a 30-second burn of six smaller thrusters, which settled propellant in the craft's fuel tank for smoother flow. The spacecraft's orientation was adjusted prior to the burns to point the engines in the proper direction for the maneuver. The spacecraft returned to the regular cruise-phase attitude after the trajectory adjustment.
"This maneuver accomplished two goals at once," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deputy Mission Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "It adjusted our trajectory toward our Mars target point, and it gave us a valuable checkout of the orbit-insertion engines." The target point is 395 kilometers (245 miles) above the surface of Mars.
Initial analysis of navigational data indicates this first flight path correction successfully changed the spacecraft's velocity by the intended 7.8 meters per second (17.4 miles per hour). Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's velocity relative to the Sun is 32,856 meters per second (73,497 miles per hour)."
More information about the mission is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro.
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