Jonathan's Space Report No. 518 2004 Jan 16, Cambridge, MA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPIRIT ON MARS -------------- The landing of MER-A "Spirit" near Gusev crater on Mars occurred around 0426 UTC on 2004 Jan 4. The cruise stage separated at 0405 UTC and the spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere at 0420 UTC at 5.4 km/s. (for comparison, Martian escape velocity at this altitude is around 4.93 km/s). Intended entry angle was 11.5 degrees, which would give a vacuum periapsis around 7 km above the surface, but controllers reported the entry was slightly shallow. By 0425 UTC the parachute was deployed; 20 seconds later the heatshield was jettisoned. Next the backshell (attached to the parachute) separated from the lander attached to a cable. About a hundred metres up, the airbags inflated, the retrorockets fired to stop the descent, and the parachute-backshell system was jettisoned. The airbag-enclosed lander hit the surface at around 0426 UTC and bounced multiple times, with the signal detected on Earth at 0436 UTC and then cutting off. Signal was reacquired at 0452 UTC (corresponding to a signal sent at 0443 UTC by the lander) confirmed that the landing was complete and the lander was the correct way up. Next steps were airbag deflation, petal opening and solar array deploy. The first images from the surface were received at JPL at 0730 UTC, and the rover rolled off the lander onto the surface on Jan 15. Light time from Mars to Earth at the time of landing was 9 min 28s. Cancellation of HST SM4 (Warning: editorial content slipping in here) ------------------------ NASA has cancelled the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a blow to astronomy, as two expensive new instruments had been completed and are ready to fly. HST will continue to operate for a while, but plans are to deorbit it before its systems fail - probably by 2007. This will leave a big gap in US astronomical capabilities, and is sure to be a blow to morale at the Space Telescope Science Institute (and the NASA/Goddard program office) who have provided us with all those stunning images of deep space. NASA HQ claims that the cancellation is because the Shuttle cannot fly safely to this one remaining mission not involving the Station without undue safety risk. However, other sources suggest that Shuttle program experts were willing to support such a mission. Many astronomers I have spoken to are skeptical, suggesting that at least part of the reason is to free up funding for the human spaceflight exploration program, and that Congress will find it much harder to fight this decision if it is presented as for safety rather than budgetary reasons. The really big question is how other space science programs will fare in the upcoming budget; if the previously allocated SM4 funding is redirected to programs that can provide a replacement optical and UV astronomy capability (perhaps competing against other disciplines), things are not so bad; but if it and other space science program funding is redirected to the (however worthy) human exploration program, it could be a major setback to our exploration of the wider universe. Stay tuned... Bush Space Proposals -------------------- Here are some details of the proposals in President Bush's speech at NASA on Jan 14. - Robot lunar missions would begin in 2008 - The new CEV (Crew Exploration Vehicle) would begin (robotic?) testing in 2008 - ISS assembly would be complete by 2010 - The Shuttle would be retired in 2010 - The CEV would enter (crewed) service in 2014 as a Station ferry. In the intervening 4 years, non-US vehicles such as Soyuz would be used to ferry crews. - CEV would start flying to the Moon in around 2015-2020 - No US funding for ISS after 2016 (I wonder what happens if ESA and NASDA want to keep it flying? Will the US and Russia sell their pieces?) - Human missions to Mars and beyond sometime later. - International participation invited (but not emphasized) - Small increase above inflation to NASA budget for next 5 years, - No mention of the status of NASA's space science. The budget chart presented by O'Keefe shows "Aeronautics and Other Science Activities' with a significant cut over the next few years, followed by tiny increase in actual dollars and (most importantly) not keeping up with inflation. Other news ---------- A leak in a hose mechanism attached to the Destiny lab window appears to be the culprit in a drop of air pressure in the Space Station during the first week of 2004. Mike Foale appears to have located and fixed the leak on Jan 11. A replacement hose will be delivered on the next Progress. Analysis of orbital data reveals that the Tan Ce 1 magnetospheric research satellite launched on Dec 29 used a direct ascent trajectory, with the final stage firing immediately after stage 2 cutoff. (Other possibilities involved a coasting period after stage 2, either in a parking orbit or with a suborbital coast to the equator). The burn put the apogee of Tan Ce 1's elliptical orbit at about 23 deg S, and implies a larger kick stage than some observers had suggested, with a propellant mass around 1100 kg. If the stage has the same 10.8 kN thrust as the old Smart Dispenser, and differs simply by having more propellant, the burn time would be around 290s which seems rather long - a thrust in the range of 50-100 kN seems more likely. The Telstar 14 satellite was launched at 0413 UTC on Jan 11 by a Boeing Sea Launch Zenit-3SL from the Odyssey platform at 154W 0N in the Pacific. The Energiya DM-SL stage reached initial orbit of around 180 x 913 km x 0 deg at 0426 UTC. A second burn at 0502 UTC put the satellite in geostationary transfer orbit. Telstar 14 is also called Estrela do Sul, and is operated by Loral Skynet do Brasil. The satellite is a Loral LS-1300 with a launch mass of 4694 kg. Reports indicate there have been problems deploying one of the solar panels. Table of Recent Launches ----------------------- Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. DES. Dec 2 1004 USA 173 ) Atlas IIAS Vandenberg SLC3E Sigint 54A USA 173 P/L 2? ) Sigint 54C Dec 5 0600 Gruzomaket Strela Baykonur PL132 Test 55A Dec 10 1742 Kosmos-2402 ) Proton-K/Briz Baykonur PL81/24 Navigation 56A Kosmos-2403 ) Navigation 56B Kosmos-2404 ) Navigation 56C Dec 18 0230 UHF F/O F11 Atlas IIIB Canaveral SLC36B Comms 57A Dec 21 0805 GPS SVN 47 Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Navigation 58A Dec 27 2130 Amos-2 Soyuz-FG/Fregat Baykonur PL31/6 Comms 59A Dec 28 2300 Ekspress AM-22 Proton-K/DM-2M Baykonur PL200/39 Comms 60A Dec 29 1906 Tan Ce 1 CZ-2C Xichang Science 61A Jan 11 0413 Estrela do Sul Zenit-3SL Odyssey Comms 01A .-------------------------------------------------------------------------. | Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 | | Somerville MA 02143 | | | c/o | | | Center for Astrophysics, | | | 60 Garden St, MS6 | | | Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org | | USA | jmcdowell@cfa.harvard.edu | | | | JSR: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html | | Back issues: http://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back | | Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@host.planet4589.org, (un)subscribe jsr | '-------------------------------------------------------------------------'