News Headlines for September 1998

Deep Space 1 set to fly on Oct. 25 It's a race to beat John Glenn into space. NASA must launch its Deep Space 1 mission to an asteroid just before Glenn's Oct. 29 flight on shuttle Discovery or risk an indefinite delay, officials said Tuesday. Looking for pulsars living in the fast lane The discovery early this year of the first magnetar - a highly magnetized star - put the spotlight on a small class of stars called Anomalous X-ray Pulsars, or AXPs. While the magnetar discovery involved another small class of cosmic sources of high-energy radiation, the Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGR), the magnetar theory holds that these objects may become AXPs before they fade from the scene altogether. Rollercoaster ride into space Scientists with the US space agency Nasa have taken an old idea as they try to develop new ways of travelling into space. NASA's Midlife Crisis With its 40th birthday happening Thursday, NASA certainly has plenty to look back on. But just like anyone turning the big four-oh, it's a time to look at the wrinkles in the mirror and wonder what's next. SETI Loses Contact Scientists listening for life on other planets at the enormous Arecibo Observatory radio telescope lost their connection with the stars because of a computer link downed by hurricane Georges. They hoped to reconnect by the end of the week. Take John Glenn Home Coming soon to a toy store near you: The 'Hot Wheels' action-packed version of senator-astronaut John Glenn, his Friendship 7 capsule from long ago and the space shuttle he’ll soon be riding on. Astronomers Spot Massive ‘Starquake’ See also: Deep space blast disrupts our atmosphere, Star emits huge burst of energy over Pacific, Astronomers detect massive burst of energy from new type of star and Summer Star Burst Last month, astronomers detected a burst of light from a distant, dying star, hints of a huge 'starquake.' Fortunately, it wasn’t any closer to us. International space station faces new delay Participants in the $21 billion international space station considered Monday whether to again delay its construction after Russia failed for the third time to deliver a key segment. Mir May Live On We’ve all heard about how Mir will die a fiery death next year. But columnist Jim Oberg has found plenty of evidence that Russia’s working hard to keep it aloft for a few more years. Deep Space 1 set to test 12 new technologies An ion propulsion engine evocative of rocket systems described in science fiction is among 12 innovative technologies to be validated during NASA's Deep Space 1 mission. Solar Flare Continues to Cause Intense Space Storm Rice University scientists report that a major geomagnetic storm began late on Sept. 24 and is continuing today. Intense auroral displays (the northern and southern lights) associated with the storm were reported at least as far south as Milwaukee. British student shows NASA new planet A UK student has discovered a new planet orbiting around a distant star by sifting through astronomical data in his spare time. Probe plumbs the depths of Europa The layer of ice and perhaps liquid water on Europa is up to 10 times as deep as Earth’s deepest ocean, and the Jovian moon may have a metallic core at its heart. Those are the conclusions drawn from readings taken by the Galileo spacecraft as recently as last December. The findings, if confirmed, could give heart to scientists looking for traces of life beyond Earth. Gyros Go out but Spacecraft Presses on with Europa Observations The Galileo spacecraft was recording early observations of Europa on Friday as it proceeded on a flyby of Jupiter's icy moon despite a problem with the probe's gyroscopes. Ulysses Reveals Same Gravitational Anomalous Behaviour A team of planetary scientists and physicists has identified a tiny, unexplained sunward acceleration in the motions of the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and Ulysses spacecraft. Powerful Magnet Star Seen in Space Astronomers said on Sep.25 they had found evidence of what they called the most powerful magnetic field ever seen in the universe. Is astronomy worth it? In his weekly column the BBC's science editor Dr David Whitehouse asks what the world's astronomers are up to? Glenn's hometown down-to-earth about his return to space Dick Hale was working in the coal mines the day John Glenn orbited the Earth in 1962 and didn't think it was such a big deal. What he really can't understand, though, is why his town's home-grown hero wants to go up in space again. Russia to Launch Probe from Mir Russia will launch a research probe at the sun from its Mir orbital station next year, blazing a trail for missions to Mars from the international complex that will replace the ageing Mir. House speaker accuses NASA of slowing race to space NASA's bureaucracy has slowed the exploration  of space and has made the U.S. space effort 'as boring as  possible,' House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sept.24. Arecibo Observatory Survives Hurricane Georges' Sweep Across Puerto Rico Initial information indicates that the massive reflector dish of Arecibo Observatory apparently sustained minimal damage from Hurricane Georges, which swept across Puerto Rico late Monday night, observatory officials report. Protostars and Planets At the start of the century, planets and comets were nuisances that fogged the plates of astronomers and interfered with the study of stars. As the century draws to a close, the question of the origin of planets and their host stars is increasingly a quest of astronomers. Tracking dangerous meteor showers on computer screens New software may give satellite makers a heads up this fall when a major meteor shower is expected to hit, helping them avoid an expensive disaster. Asteroid Searchers Streak Ahead With comets and asteroids menacing Earth in movie theaters around the world this summer, the once-arcane field of tracking potential threats from near-Earth objects, or NEOs, is suddenly in the limelight. Gravity Explains Why so many Asteroids Scare US Astronomers said on Sept.24 they had explained why so many asteroids come close enough to Earth to raise alarms and, occasionally, hit us. Anticipating Supernovae Once every 30 to 50 years, a giant star somewhere in the Milky Way is thought to exhaust its fuel and explode with a brightness that outshines the entire galaxy. It’s a great show, and astronomers don’t want to miss the next one. Inca Sun-Worship Ritual Illuminated Archaeologist Brian Bauer and colleagues have unearthed artifacts from sites in South America that shed light on how the Inca organized their sun-worship rituals and how they physically kept track of the sun's movements. Mars Global Surveyor views northern polar cap The last images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft until next year show the arrival of spring at the planet's frozen north pole. Mars Surveyor Tightens Orbit The Mars Global Surveyor has slowed down. The spacecraft fired its main rocket engine for 14.8 seconds early Sept.23 to descend toward the fringes of the Martian atmosphere in an effort to tighten its orbit around the red planet. Double pleasure in planet quest See also: New planets' star roll and Two More Extrasolar Planets And Evidence Of A Mature Planetary System Two revelations about possible planets beyond our solar system have astronomers seeing double: One team of researchers has seen signs of planet creation in a double-star system. Another team has found evidence of yet two more planets — one of which appears to have an Earthlike orbit around its parent star. A Forceful Demonstration by FORS New VLT Instrument Provides Impressive Images. Following a tight schedule, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) project forges ahead - full operative readiness of the first of the four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes will be reached early next year. More Planets in the Universe? There may be a lot more planets out there than previously thought, according to researchers who found the makings of planetary systems around two stars orbiting each other in the constellation Taurus. Astronomers Shed New Light on Distant Planets At the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics in Arizona, astronomers have demonstrated for the first time that they can look at planets orbiting extrasolar stars, a feat that even the Hubble Space Telescope hasn't been able to accomplish. International space station faces new delay as Russia falls behind Russia on Sept.22 dealt another blow to the long-delayed international space station, saying it will fail for a third time in its commitment to build a key component. A false alarm for SETI searchers Command Central for Project Phoenix is pretty unimpressive. There’s a low shelf on which three computer workstations are perched like a short row of ducks. That’s it. No flashing lights. No eerie synthesizer sounds. No knife switches on the wall. Booooring. The observing can be boring, too. But there’s a reason for that. NASA Wants Money for Russia NASA is reportedly seeking government permission to buy as much as $660 million more from Russia’s space agency to help ensure completion of a space station deal with the Russians. Peering into a black hole Astronomers are using a telescope larger than the Earth to examine objects 6.3 billion light years away. Larger than Earth telescope reveals ancient quasars Images of quasars billions of light-years away are among the striking initial results of the Very Long Base Interferometry (VLBI) Space Observatory Program, a new type of astronomy mission that uses a combination of satellite- and Earth-based radio antennas to create a telescope larger than Earth. A whole new perspective on Earth NASA has released remarkable satellite images documenting Earth’s weather patterns and changing seasons over the course of a year. KNBC’s Chuck Henry reports on the observations of the SeaWiFS satellite. (Needs Microsoft's new Windows Media Player - download from botton of Software page). The front line in the search for E.T. 'Searching for extraterrestrials is a great subject for lunchtime chatter, but if you actually try to do it, it’s hard work. As a member of the Project Phoenix team, currently camped out at the Arecibo Radio Telescope, I can speak to that.' So says Seth Shostak. Surveyor Orbit Off a Bit The Mars Global Surveyor will have to wait a few days before tightening its orbit around the red planet, because the flight team sent bad instructions early today. Astronomers crack mystery of Jupiter's faint rings See also: Origin of Jupiter's Rings and Galileo finds Jupiter's rings formed by dust blasted off small moons They may not be as dramatic or as beautiful as Saturn's rings, but NASA and Cornell University scientists say new photos from the Galileo space probe show the rings around Jupiter are amazingly complex. Beware, falling sky The height of the sky has dropped by 8km in the last 38 years, according to scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. No Late Mir Retirement? The Russian Space Agency today said it would retire the 12-year-old Mir space station next summer even if Russian delays put off the launch of the first astronauts to the new International Space Station. Soho pointing at the Sun again It has been a landmark day for solar scientists. At last the troubled Soho spacecraft has obeyed commands to turn its face fully towards the sun. More ISS Delays Expected Russia’s acute financial crisis is likely to delay next July’s scheduled arrival of the first astronauts on the new International Space Station by half a year or more. Burning Into Tighter Orbit The Mars Global Surveyor flight team has solved a communications problem that delayed the process of bringing the spacecraft into a tighter orbit around the red planet. More ISS Delays Expected Russia’s acute financial crisis is likely to delay next July’s scheduled arrival of the first astronauts on the new International Space Station by half a year or more, Russian officials said today. Indoor space walk Gases at the Moon’s Edges That romantic glow it sheds on lovers is apparently not the only atmosphere the moon provides. Galileo WebChat on Sept. 16 The next Galileo WebChat is scheduled for September 16, 1998, from 1 p.m.-4 p.ms. PDT (9pm - 1am BST). This is your opportunity to meet the people who work on the Galileo project. Astronomers Learn the Secrets of Jupiter's Rings See also: The Origin of the Rings and Jupiter's ring riddle solved It's long been a curiosity to space-watchers. No one knew much of anything about the thin rings circling Jupiter. But now, astronomers in Tucson, Arizona, and at New York's Cornell University say they may have solved the mystery. NASA Selects First University-Class Explorers Small spacecraft to study the vast region between our Sun and nearby stars and the interaction of Earth's radiation belts with the solar wind have been selected as the first missions in NASA's University-class Explorers (UNEX) program. 2001: A Lunar Odyssey Scientists are drawing up plans to explore our nearest neighbour in space after years of neglect. John Glenn contends with creaky bones, computer angst No doubt about it, John Glenn is creakier than the six astronauts who will accompany him into orbit next month. Anyone out there? Astronomers have begun the most sensitive and comprehensive search ever attempted to look for radio signals from aliens. CNN space reporter Holliman dies in car accident CNN national assignment and aerospace reporter John Holliman died early Saturday from injuries sustained in a car accident, the network reported. He was 49. Martian moon Phobos hip-deep in powder See also: Martian moon is hip-deep in meteorite dust New temperature data and close-up images of the Martian moon Phobos gathered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicate the surface of this small body has been pounded into powder by eons of meteoroid impacts, some of which started landslides that left dark trails marking the steep slopes of giant craters. 'Snowball Comets' Are Just Camera Noise, Berkeley Researchers Say After Analyzing Dark Pixels In Iowa Data Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering scientists a glimpse at conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life's formation. NASA Accepts "Keys" To First U.S.-Built Station Component The Unity connecting module, the first U.S.-built component of the International Space Station, moved a step closer to orbit Sept. 4 when Boeing, the manufacturer of Unity, officially handed over the module's "keys" to NASA. Space Debris Offers View of Early Earth Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering scientists a glimpse at conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life’s formation. Spacecraft behaviour may challenge our notion of gravity See also: Data from spacecraft doesn’t add up Is gravity broke? Or is it just the spacecraft? For whatever reason, far-flung probes such as Pioneer 10 and 11 are showing an anomalous slowdown effect. If the observations are correct, that could force a revision of Einstein’s theories. Gravity Teases Details from Ancient Cosmic Birthplaces By refracting light from the far edge of the universe, gravity is giving astronomers a fine-scale view of the dim clouds that spawned stars and galaxies. Irish Team Wins SEA & SPACE Super Prize A secondary school team from Blackrock College in Dublin, Ireland has won a trip to Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana, and to ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal, Chile. Hubble Gets Multiple Views of Distant Galaxy When hunting the most distant galaxies, astronomers often have to content themselves with but a single image. Now, scientists have obtained a trio of images of one of these extraordinarily faint, starlit bodies. Exploring New Worlds With the announcement last month that a nearby star has an orbiting companion more than three times the mass of Jupiter, the hunt for planets that orbit stars similar to the sun reached a critical milestone. For the first time, astronomers know of more planets circling such stars outside the solar system than within it. Epsilon Eridani New observations reveal that Epsilon Eridani may have a planetary system similar to our own. In age, mass, and the position of its newly discovered dust ring, the star bears a close resemblance to what the solar system is thought to have looked like when it was just a few hundred million years old. Planet Forming Out in the Dust See also: Puzzle surrounds Red Rectangle Astronomers have found a mysterious dust cloud far outside our solar system that may be giving birth to a planet in distant orbit around a dying sun. Scientists to Reveal Source of Jupiter's Rings Astronomers analyzing data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft will announce they have solved a long-standing mystery, the origin of Jupiter's rings, at a news briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at noon, EDT. The briefing will be carried live on the Internet - use the NASA TV link at the top of the page. Soho coming under control Scientists are winning the race against time to regain control of the Soho sun observation satellite. 'Supermassive' Black Hole Found In The Center Of Our Galaxy The presence of an enormous black hole at the center of our galaxy has been detected by a researcher funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The evidence will be reported today at the Central Parsecs Galactic Center Workshop '98 in Tucson, Arizona, by Andrea Ghez, of the University of California-Los Angeles. New close-up on Mercury Scientists have seen the mysterious planet Mercury from a new angle 23 years after it was visited by a spaceprobe. Grabbing a piece of the sun When it is launched in 2001 the Genesis mission will fly into space and unfurl a series of detectors that will capture some of the solar wind. Spectacular space encounter expected in November Nov. 17 will be one of the more spectacular periodic encounters with a dust cloud from a comet. Tiny fragments of stardust -- the size of a grain of sand or rice -- will hit the Earth's atmosphere at 41 miles a second, and burn up in a blaze of glory in the early morning sky, at the rate of at least one a second when Earth runs head-on into the Leonids. Ice Ages Result of Celestial Crashes A Chinese scientist claims that the six ice ages in the Cenozoic Era resulted from collisions between minor celestial bodies and the earth. SETI scientists plan to double-team E.T. The quest for alien contact goes into overdrive this month, with two groups of researchers planning to use the world’s biggest radio telescope simultaneously. Although this is the most ambitious campaign yet, both groups stress that we’re still just in the early stages of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Let's go back to the Moon! The BBC's Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse says we should set our sights on a return to the Moon to spark renewed interest in space exploration. Moon Richer Than First Thought Refined calculations of lunar water amounts and unique lunar compositional maps appeared in the journal Science (Sept.4) as part of the first publications of detailed analyses of data returned from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission. Latest Lunar Prospector Findings Indicate Larger Amounts Of Water Ice The north and south poles of the Moon may contain up to six billion metric tons of water ice, a more than ten-fold increase over previous estimates, according to scientists working with data from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission. First Hypersonic Propulsion Hardware Delivered A revolutionary new engine that ultimately may reduce the cost of putting payloads in orbit has been delivered to NASA for testing. NASA Hopes Situation in Russia WON'T Affect ISS Building The National Aeronotics and Space Administration very attentively follows the situation in Russia and hopes that it will not affect plans of creating the International Space Station (ISS), NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown said in an interview with Itar-Tass on Sept.3. More water on the moon See also: More Lunar Water Evidence, Moon research gets a big boost and Lunar prospector provides wealth of data on moon Scientists say there is 10-times more water on the moon than they had previously thought. The Challenge of Gamma Ray Burst Observations It is fair to say that there has been more progress in gamma ray burst (GRB) research in the past 16 months than during the previous 30 years. Until late February 1997, the main conclusion that could be drawn, based on observations primarily from the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, was that GRB sources probably lie at cosmological distances well outside our galaxy. Surveyor's Summer of Science A major milestone was reached on August 18th as the flight team celebrated Surveyor's 500th orbit around Mars. As of today, the spacecraft has completed 520 orbits and continues to transmit nearly 500 megabits of science data per day back to the Earth. Since the beginning of the summer-long science collection period at the end of May, nearly 200 orbits worth of data have been collected by Surveyor's instruments. Time travel theory 'full of holes' Scientists appear to have dashed hopes that black holes might provide a way to travel around the universe by jumping through the fabric of space and time. Heavy metal hit parade could point scientists to source of gamma-ray bursts A powerful new instrument could point scientists to the source of mysterious, cosmological, gamma-ray bursts. Wanted: Volunteers for life in a tank Russians dismayed by current woes in their economy will have a unique chance to really get away from it all: Space researchers are seeking volunteers for an eight-month isolation experiment. Small is beautiful on Mars Scientists are learning about Mars's volcanic past by studying the smallest volcanoes on the planet. The smoothest surface in the world The most accurate mirror ever made is shortly to begin its journey to an observatory in Hawaii. Earth microbes on the moon Three decades after Apollo 12, a remarkable colony of lunar survivors, who hitchhiked a trip to the moon on Surveyor 3 - unprotected - are re-examined. Reseacher Suspects Liquid Water on Mars Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, Mars Viking Experimenter, claims that his studies reveal water exists on the Red Planet's surface in sufficient amounts to sustain microbial life. SOHO Recovery Continues Activities to bring the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft back to normal operating conditions continue with good results as the SOHO mission interruption joint ESA/NASA investigation board today releases its final report analysing the causes that led to interruption of the spacecraft's observations on 25 June this year. Space being opened for commercial development The U.S. Senate recently joined the House in passing the Commercial Space Act of 1997. This is probably the most important action of the current Congress to promote the development and use of space. The Right Stuff Gets Global There’s a certain national pride in sending a countryman into space. The U.S. and the former Soviet Union had long cornered the market. But as columnist Jim Oberg reports, more and more countries are enjoying the glory.

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