News Headlines for September 2000

Lunar Legacies What’s to stop a future entrepreneur from snatching Alan Shepard’s famous golf ball from the lunar surface and hawking it on EBay? Apart from the task of getting to it - nothing - at least not yet. Close-up on pulsating star The change in size of a pulsating star has been observed directly for the very first time. Mars attacks rocket records A group of Britons are heading to the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, US, to challenge the UK and European altitude records for an amateur-built rocket. Square Craters on Eros NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft has spotted square-shaped craters on asteroid Eros, a telltale sign of mysterious goings-on in the asteroid belt long ago. Square craters add to accumulating evidence that the Eros is riddled with cracks and ridges that extend the entire 33 km length of the peanut-shaped space rock. Russia, India study joint space station research Russia and India are studying the possibility of joint basic research in the international space station Alpha. NASA spotlights 'fountains of fire' on the sun See also: Fire fountains may explain solar puzzle NASA has released dramatic new images showing "fountains of fire" on the sun, which the space agency said will help solar physicists better understand why the sun's atmosphere, or corona, is a thousand times hotter than its surface. Russian Scientist Reports Evidence of Organic Pigments on Surface of Mars Has a Russian scientist analyzing Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars, using a two-band radiance-ratio technique, found organic pigments on the Red Planet? Mir desperately needs funding to keep it aloft, safe See also: Missions to Mir going through ups and downs The orbit of the Russian space station Mir is dipping closer to Earth and will become unsafe by February of next year unless additional sources of funding are identified. Shuttle replacement may never fly NASA has spent four years and about $1 billion developing a replacement for the space shuttle, with nothing to show for it but a half-built prototype sitting in a Palmdale, Calif., hangar. Pluto Plans Scrapped See also: NASA stops work on Pluto mission NASA's plans to send a probe to Pluto, the only unexplored planet in our solar system, have been scrapped due to high costs. Scientists say the mission could happen by 2020, but some argue that may be too late. Interplanetary Fall Earth joins two other worlds in the solar system where it is northern autumn. Read this story to learn more about Earth's September equinox and to ponder the bizarre seasons of other planets. Titan: A Primordial Earth In Our Solar System The decade from 1971 to 1980 was characterized by a phenomenal increase in our knowledge and perception of the solar system. Our robotic emissaries visited all of the planets known to the ancients. Arguably some of the most exciting and unexpected results were obtained from the reconnaissance of Jupiter and Saturn. Old hardware for new space station Haunted by the prospect of huge cost overruns on a module to help boost the International Space Station in orbit, NASA managers instead have decided to fashion the component largely from test hardware now in storage at a NASA center. Space station lacks decorations The astronauts who just returned from the International Space Station say it won't be a true home until the first occupants add their own personal touches. Teen given six months for hacking NASA, Pentagon computers A teen-ager was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday after pleading guilty to federal charges of hacking into NASA computers which support the international space station. NASA scolds partner over TV talk NASA rebuked its multimedia partner Dreamtime in a letter Thursday, saying that the company "shall, at no time, represent or claim to represent NASA or act as NASA’s agent" after news broke that Dreamtime misrepresented the space agency in high-level meetings this week. Preserving Tranquility Base New Mexico State University, with $23,000 from NASA and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, is preparing an unprecedented nomination for the National Register of Historic Places for the original lunar landing site: Apollo 11's Tranquility Base on the surface of the moon. Titov Dies at Age 65 See also: Space Hero Gherman Titov, the second man to orbit the Earth and a towering hero of the Soviet-American space race, died at age 65. Scientists get near the real Eros See also: Eros adds pieces to cosmic puzzle Astronomers have just released the results of the most detailed orbital survey of an asteroid ever undertaken. Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars See also: Changing face of infant stars Time-lapse movies made from a series of pictures taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are showing astronomers that young stars and their surroundings can change dramatically in just weeks or months. Scientists look into Milky Way core See also: Astronomers pinpoint black hole at center of Milky Way Astronomers have obtained the most detailed observations yet of the stars that swirl around the supermassive black hole thought to reside at our galaxy's core. A Good Month for Asteroids September has been a good month for astronomers studying Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). No fewer than five sizable minor planets have flown past our planet since the beginning of the month, affording astronomers a close-up look at these ever-scary space rocks. Climate change: new impressions from space Are variations in the Sun´s brightness an important cause of climate change? Could changes in the Sun´s magnetism affect the Earth´s clouds? Why do temperature trends in the lower atmosphere give a different impression of global warming from measurements at ground level? Atlantis returns home The space shuttle Atlantis has returned to Earth after a successful mission to fit out the International Space Station. China To Develop New Generation of Rockets With View To Moon Landing China will start research and development of a new generation of rockets, including a reusable launch vehicle (RLV), and set its sight on landing on the Moon, the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao reports. Aerospike engines roar to final tests The deafening roar of rocket engine firings should fill the air at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., in October as the innovative aerospike engine nears the final phase of testing. Amateur and Professional Astronomers Team Up for Chandra Observations of SS Cygni Triggered by alerts from amateur astronomers worldwide NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory is observing the outburst of the brightest northern dwarf nova SS Cygni. Cheap Space: The Final Frontier Cheap Access to Space (CATS) in 1997 offered $250,000 to the first rocketeer to launch a 2-kilo metal plug 125 miles into space. Well, we're still waiting, and time's running out. Small Payloads, Quick Payoffs What if you wanted to launch a small payload in space but aren't on the three-year waiting list for regular satellite missions? Or what if you don't have big bucks? Think small. Atlantis undocks from space station See also: Astronauts begin return home Space shuttle Atlantis and its astronauts gently pulled away from the international space station late Sunday after a short but productive stay. Asteroids 'threaten' Earth See also: Saving Earth Experts are to tell the UK Government that more must be done to defend the Earth from the threat of rocks crashing on to the planet from outer space. Atlantis Crew Coming Home See also: Atlantis heads home and Atlantis departs space station: 'Fantastic job' The crew of space shuttle Atlantis sealed up the international space station early today, wrapping up a week of home improvement projects on the soon-to-be inhabited outpost. Shuttle crew tells CNN.com readers about life on space station Two space shuttle Atlantis astronauts waxed poetic Friday about their first foray into the International Station, describing details big and small about the "brand spanking new" outpost. NASA plans longer space trips NASA wants to put the Earth in its rear-view mirror. The space agency has scripted a step-by-step plan to send astronauts to locales between the Earth, moon and sun, to Mars and the asteroids, and even deeper to the moons of several outer planets. A set of far-out space missions beyond Earth’s orbit is part of a new strategic plan for the Human Exploration and Development of Space. The potential future targets are called "design reference points," beginning with the near term and extending to the far term and beyond. A Distant Pioneer's Final Dance? Some 10 light hours out, an aging pioneer that keeps on trucking like an aging '70s pop star, is slowly slipping away as its plutonium battery trickles down. A recent attempt to re-orient Pioneer 10 now appears to have failed, leaving the distant probe perilously close to the point where all contact may finally be lost. Legal Loopholes Help Man Sell the Moon Moon prices may soon grow unworldly. Dennis Hope, a California entrepreneur who first laid claim to the entire moon in 1980, is gearing up to jack the prices of land on Earth’s lone natural satellite. Sexual Revolutions Their bodies pressed together, the two lovers tremble in synchronicity. They cling like this for about half a minute, their extremities aflutter. Then they part. It's time enough. They have created new life in space. Not from an X-rated sci-fi flick, the scene occurred in real life aboard a space shuttle in the summer of 1994 and made history of a sort. The romancers, small freshwater fish from Japan called Medaka, hold the distinction of being the first and only vertebrate creatures ever known to mate successfully in the weightlessness of space. There is a video of the event, not to mention space-born offspring, to prove it. An Elusive Subatomic Particle See also: European collider gets short reprieve Scientists who think they have come tantalizingly close to discovering a long-sought subatomic particle have decided to press ahead for another month rather than immediately leave the field - and a probable Nobel prize - to their main American rival. Why Mars’ red surface seems dead Scientists have re-created Martian conditions in test tubes, producing a "disinfectant" that may help explain the planet’s rusty red color and why life and organic material have not been found on the surface. Uc Santa Cruz Astronomers Forge Ahead On Giant Telescope Project The next milestone in telescope size is likely to be one with a primary mirror 30 meters in diameter, which would provide ten times the light-gathering area of each of the 10-meter Kecks. The University of California and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have teamed up to design and build a 30-meter telescope, dubbed the California Extremely Large Telescope (CELT). The project is still in the early planning stages, but researchers led by UC Santa Cruz astronomers are making steady progress on the conceptual design for CELT. Pluto Mission Deferred, Europa Gets Priority See also: Pluto mission on hold and Pluto Mission Cancelled! NASA's Pluto Express program has been downshifted to a slow crawl. NASA's chief of space-science exploration has issued a stop-work order on the project, directing the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California to overhaul the mission to the distant planet. North to Mars! The Haughton-Mars Project, led by SETI Institute Principal Investigator Pascal Lee, will investigate a bit of chilly real estate that is, in some ways, very much like Mars. Astronauts do 'home repair' on station It was a vintage home improvement moment, like those replayed in millions of homes each weekend. Centaur's Bright Surface Spot Could be Crater of Fresh Ice The unexpectedly varied surface of a wayward piece of space debris has given astronomers new insights into the characteristics and behavior of a ghostly population of faintly observed comet-like bodies that lie just beyond Pluto's orbit. Revolution promised in X-ray astronomy See also: Powerful x-ray astronomy telescope should lead to black hole exploration Scientists think they can build an X-ray observatory that will for the first time be able to "see" a black hole. A Surprising Coronal Mass Ejection The sunspot number has been remarkably low this week, but that didn't stop the Sun from unleashing an unusual type of solar flare yesterday. As a result of the explosion, a coronal mass ejection is heading toward our planet. It could trigger an auroral display when it hits Earth's magnetosphere around Sept. 14. Build your own spacecraft See also: For A Cool Half Million You To Can Own Your Space Ship If you have an itch to fly into space and half a million dollars to spare, you may soon be able to nip down to the store and buy a spaceship in kit form. Once assembled, the craft, called the Kitten, will take you and two friends 200 kilometres up at a top speed of Mach 4. It's not quite Earth orbit, but who's counting? Dig for life on Mars Find liquid water on Mars, and life may not be far behind. Many scientists believe that this water can only exist thousands of metres beneath the planet's surface. So a team of engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is developing a robotic mole that can drill deep into Mars and return samples to the surface through a tube that it constructs as it digs. Looking into the cauldron of an exploded star Supernovae are one of the most cataclysmic events in the Universe, violent explosions by which stars end their lives. A star may then have a brightness over a billion times that of our Sun and outshine the galaxy in which it lies. Their effects can be observed centuries later. XMM-Newton has been observing the remnants of the Tycho supernova, named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. X-ray observatories observe same targets XMM-Newton has this summer passed into its operational phase and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory has just celebrated its first year in orbit. The world's foremost X-ray astronomy missions will now each be contributing to a greater understanding of the X-ray universe. Concepts and Approaches in Mars Exploration NASA has now essentially decided -- in accord with the recommendations of most of the participants at last July's Houston conference on "Concepts and Approaches in Mars Exploration" -- that the form of the Mars program needs to be drastically changed, in the direction of extensive reconaisssance of the planet before landing sites are picked out for unmanned sample-return missions, But what should the details of the new program be? Space Flight Bookings Web Site Opens For the first time, a Web site in the UK is offering high-rolling travelers the chance to book their own holiday in space. NASA adds day to Atlantis mission The shuttle Atlantis crew will have an extra day to move supplies into the International Space Station, NASA officials announced Tuesday. Battle of the Martian landers The scientist behind Europe's lander mission to Mars has launched an extraordinary attack on the American space agency, Nasa, and its plans to return to the Red Planet. Middleweight black hole discovered See also: Missing Link and Chandra clinches case for unexpected black hole discovery Astronomers say they have discovered a new type of black hole - one that is of intermediate size. Taking telescopes to the streets It’s tempting to call John Dobson a revolutionary, but in truth this monk-turned-astronomer is more of a missionary. In the 33 years since he was expelled from a Vedantic monastery for putting more time into astronomy than his pursuit of Hindu spirituality, John Dobson has been on a single-minded mission to bring the wonders of the skies to Earth, making them accessible to the everyday person. Recent Mars and Earth Dust Storms Compared Spring on Mars...in either hemisphere...is a time for local and regional dust storms. These storms arise as the seasonal carbon dioxide frost cap, which can extend almost half-way to the equator, sublimes in the warming spring environment. NASA's Stardust mission develops case of blurry vision Mission controllers plan to give a comet-hunting spacecraft an eye exam Tuesday, making it stare at the stars in an effort to troubleshoot a case of blurry vision. NBC strikes deal for 'Survivor' show in space See also: NBC launching 2001 space odyssey NBC is hoping for a ratings liftoff from "Survivor" mastermind Mark Burnett. The network has agreed to pay nearly $40 million for the rights to Burnett's "Destination Mir," a reality series that would launch an everyday American into space for a rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir. Space Agency Chooses Landing Site On the Red Planet See also: Europeans look at a Martian target When NASA’s next rovers truck along the Red Planet's surface, they may have company. The European Space Agency (ESA) is landing its own craft on Mars in 2004, and the likely target is Isidis Basin, one of NASA’s highest priority landing sites. Astronauts work inside space station See also: Shuttle crew enters space station and International Space Station Opened for Business The crew of space shuttle Atlantis drifted into the newest section of the international space station early Tuesday, entering the Russian service module which will become home for the orbiting outpost’s first permanent residents in November. Where’s that spacecraft? Find it now It’s back-to-school time, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to do the math to see the satellites and other objects in the sky. The engineers and programmers at NASA have developed tracking programs to figure out when you can see Atlantis in orbit, along with other craft such as the International Space Station, Mir and the Hubble Space Telescope. The real-life plan to resist space invaders It sounds like the stuff of science fiction. A robot spacecraft flies off to another planet, scoops up some soil and brings it back to Earth. Inside that scoop of dirt are living things that somehow escape, run amok and threaten our world. The scenario might sound outlandish until you consider this: For the first time since the Apollo moon landings, the federal government is making plans to protect Earth from any extraterrestrial life forms brought back - on purpose - by scientific space missions. Will NASA Go Before Pluto Freezes Over? Concerned by the possible delay or cancellation of a first-ever mission to Pluto, backers of the endeavor argue there is no time like the present to explore the tiniest and most distant of the solar system’s nine planets. Allen Telescope Array (ATA) It's one of the most persistently enticing sirens to beckon the SETI community: a major telescope that can be dedicated to the search. Despite the seductiveness of this idea, construction of an instrument designed to meet the requirements of full-time SETI has always foundered on the large costs. In the next few years, that situation is going to change. Lou Friedman's Executive Director Report for September In this latest report, Dr. Friedman of the Planetary Society talks about the brand new, public radio documentary sponsored by the society. He also updates us on the effort to save the Pluto Express mission, and comments on the announcement of an exciting Society partnership." Programme Sample Australian mammal is medical star Humans might one day be able to enter a state of "suspended animation" by studying the secrets of the echidna, one of the oldest surviving mammals in the world. The Mystery of the Lonely Neutron Star Deep inside the Milky Way, an old and lonely neutron star plows its way through interstellar space. Known as RX J1856.5-3754, it measures only ~ 20 km across. Although it is unusually hot for its age, about 700,000 °C, earlier observations did not reveal any activity at all, contrary to all other neutron stars known so far. Looking For Meteorites On The Saskatchewan Prairies Melvin Christensen of Kyle, Sask. found a strange seven-kilogram 'rock' while cultivating land about 20 years ago. The heavy, black rock piqued the interest of Andrew Bird, a third-year geology student at the University of Calgary, who was hosting a Prairie Meteorite Search "show and tell" on July 3 at the Kyle museum. Bird was examining rocks that local residents thought could be meteorites. American, Russian shuttle crew perform spacewalk See also: Astronaut, cosmonaut complete 6-hour spacewalk American astronaut Ed Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko stepped outside the space shuttle Atlantis early Monday for the climb up the International Space Station to attach cable and install a boom for a navigation unit. Getting Connected See also: Atlantis docks with space station Space shuttle Atlantis flew up to the international space station and docked early this morning, a complicated job made even tougher by a failed navigation device. Building a Brooklyn Bridge to the 21st Century? One of the last frontiers of real estate, the moon, can be had for a song, thanks to an American entrepeneur who has laid claim to all lunar territories (as well as 8 planets). Computer simulation reveals ups and downs of Jupiter's winds Waves of up-and-down winds that span great ranges in air pressure may explain the surprisingly clear, dry areas near Jupiter's equator, new research based on data from NASA's Galileo entry probe indicates. Tree rings challenge history See also: Dark Age Disaster and Catastrophic Event Preceded Dark Ages - Scientist Something catastrophic occurred on Earth 1,500 years ago that may have led to the Dark Ages and coincided with the end of the Roman Empire and the death of King Arthur, a Northern Irish scientist has said. Record-setting Ozone Hole Antarctica's ozone hole now covers an area three times larger than the entire land mass of the United States - the largest such ozone-depleted region ever observed. Early spring conditions in the southern hemisphere and an unusually intense Antarctic vortex are contributing to the growth of the hole. Rare space rock in British lab UK researchers have got hold of a fragment of one of the rarest meteorites ever to have fallen to Earth. Long-dead rivers provide clues in extinction puzzle See also: Massive Vegetation Loss Accompanied Mass Extinction Recent analysis of South African rocks reveals that rivers suddenly became clogged with sediments 251 million years ago, indicating that Earth’s worst mass extinction wiped out many trees and other plants that held soil in place. Boom time begins for Cluster The Cluster mission will be booming over the next six weeks. During a carefully planned series of operations, 16 wire booms, each almost 50 metres in length, will gradually be released from the spinning satellites. Once they are fully deployed and begin to sweep out a giant circle around the spacecraft, these booms will provide a flood of data for the five wave experiments on each Cluster satellite. How the FBI Investigated First U.S. Astronaut According to routine government background checks conducted in 1967 and in 1971, Alan Shepard was alleged to have had extramarital affairs and was apparently not a favorite of all the astronauts. Shedding new light on a star’s life Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have uncovered startling new images of two planetary nebulae at different stages of life. The images, similar to snapshots in a family photo album, promise to reveal critical new information about the process of planetary nebula formation. Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators Science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke was once asked when the "space elevator," a notion he helped to popularize, would become a reality. Clarke answered, "Probably about 50 years after everybody quits laughing." Nowadays NASA scientists are taking the idea seriously. Scientists close in on elusive particle Scientists may have spotted the most sought-after prize in particle physics, the elusive Higgs particle. U.S. group sees 2002 liftoff for reusable satellite launcher A U.S. aerospace company developing a reusable satellite launcher hopes to be ready for take-off from a remote launch site in the Australian outback by early 2002. Ulysses returns to the Sun's south pole and encounters blustery solar weather Just as solar storms are brewing, the European-built space probe, Ulysses, is venturing over the Sun's south pole for the second time in its 10-year life. The intrepid spacecraft will pass 70 degrees south on 8 September, shortly before the Sun's 11-year activity cycle is due to peak. Solar storms are already numerous and the high latitude solar windwind (the stream of charged particles blowing away from the Sun) is chaotic and blustery. Unveiling the nature of a dusty galaxy The ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope has made the first detailed optical observations of an example of a remarkable class of galaxies by using the additional magnifying power of a huge galaxy cluster to extend its range. The galaxy, named J1/J2, belongs to a remote population of galaxies. Although extremely luminous, the galaxies are obscured by enormous quantities of dust - the smoky residue of the life cycle of massive stars - and have so far only been seen by sub-millimetre telescopes. The Hubble observation has enabled astronomers to investigate the connection between this distant population of 'hidden' dust-enshrouded, intensely star-forming galaxies and the less dusty galaxies that are readily observed with optical telescopes. Building The Infrastructure For Martian Exploration NASA is tentatively scheduled to announce its radically redesigned program for Mars exploration in October -- and in preparation for this, they are accepting mission concept proposals from industry. South African Large Telescope Makes Spring Day Special September 1 is celebrated as Spring Day in South Africa -- but the day took on even more significance in South Africa this year when thousands of people gathered in the small town of Sutherland in the Karoo to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony for the building of a large new telescope just outside the town. Sunbathing at Solar Max NASA scientists say that Solar Maximum is now in full swing. Does that mean you're more likely to catch a sunburn at the beach? The answer is "no," and this story explains why. Primordial Meteorite in a Class by Itself A chemical analysis of a rare, uncontaminated 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite that fell to Earth earlier this year shows that its composition sets it apart from other meteorites found on Earth, giving scientists a glimpse of the solar system that has not been seen before. Search for other life now focuses on Europa The latest report from NASA's Galileo probe at Jupiter is further evidence that one of the planet's moons, named Europa, may be an excellent candidate for harboring extraterrestrial life. Local couple can call asteroid their own Somewhere today, a single asteroid whizzing around the sun is bearing the name of two Brevard County residents. To Hal and Katie Povenmire, having an asteroid named for them is like having their own small piece of the sky. Rock's fleeting visit See also: A Close Encounter with a Space Rock and Close Encounter with a Space Rock A half-kilometre (546 yard) wide space rock hurtled past Earth on Friday morning, just 12 times further from our planet than the Moon. In cosmic terms, that's a near miss. A new boost for the ‘Big Whack’ Two new studies bolster the popular theory that the moon formed from debris after a rogue planet smacked into Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. 'Ambassadors' sought for telling solar system story They come from all walks of life to spread the word. A stellar cocoon soon to hatch to a butterfly Observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show a previously unknown richness of detail in the intriguing proto-planetary nebula CRL 618. CRL 618 is a superb example of the transition taking place in the later stages of the life of a star like the Sun after it has lost most of its mass and before it emerges as a fully-fledged butterfly-like planetary nebula. He2-90's Appearance Deceives Astronomers See also: Star Defies Classification Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have stumbled upon a mysterious object that is grudgingly yielding clues to its identity. The faces behind the Mars rovers No one knows better than Steve Squyres that the most recent attempts by Earthlings to get to Mars failed. The Cornell University astronomer worked on three Mars missions that crashed. Now NASA, mocked and criticized for losing two Mars missions last year, is looking to Squyres to make sure its new-and-improved plan for reaching Mars really works. He is the scientist in charge of equipping and running two rovers scheduled to land on the Red Planet in 2004. Mars meteorites pose more puzzles Analysis of new Martian meteorites is confounding planetary scientists with clues that simply don’t add up. Comet-hunting: Play along at home See also: Amateur stargazer discovers doomed comet Move over, Comets Linear, Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake – you’ve got company. This week, astronomers working with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite announced the sighting of the 200th, 201st and 202nd comets found since the observatory opened for business in 1996. The comets are dubbed “sun-grazers” because they swoop dangerously close to the sun, usually vaporizing completely in the sun’s blazing heat. Tech billionaires lift their eyes, ears to the stars The recent news that two high-tech titans have donated $12.5 million to energize the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence invites cynicism. Cluster quartet go into eclipse Doom and gloom are currently affecting the Cluster project team, but there's no need for concern. It's just the start of the eclipse season for the four Cluster spacecraft. Over the next week, the quartet will periodically cease to be illuminated by the Sun as they sweep through the Earth's shadow.

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