Natural Entrepreneur: Outside of the Planet

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Mars rovers are busy exploring

The Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, successfully landed on our neighboring planet this past winter, and are beating even the most optimistic expectations.

Each rover descended to different parts of the planet via parachute and, encased in a protective bundle of balloons, landed and bounced gently before coming to rest on the surface. Slowly and cautiously, NASA scientists remotely controlled each rover away from its landing pod. Spirit did have some trouble, due to a software bug, but NASA successfully uploaded and installed a patch from Earth to Mars, a distance of 130 million miles!

Satisfying a key goal of the mission, in March, NASA scientists announced there is clear evidence that the rocks where the rovers explored were once "soaked with water" and could even have supported life. (Though this is not necessarily a surprise to many experts). "Liquid water once flowed through these rocks," said Steven Squyres of Cornell University, "It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry." The next step is to determine when and how.

During the month of April, the rover Opportunity drove to a large crater 700 meters from its landing site, named Endurance Crater. The rover then explored parts of the 130-meters wide rim, and in June began to cautiously descend down the crater's inner slope. Scientists are eager to examine the inside of Endurance because deeper, older layers of rock are exposed inside.

(image NASA/JPL)

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1279_1.asp

Galaxies and black holes

(image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Megan Urry)

Although it tries, the Hubble Telescope cannot see everything. But with the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared images, scientists have found the host-galaxies of supermassive black holes in the young universe that had not been identified before. These galaxies may have been obscured by thick dark cosmic dust, or they're made up mostly of reddish stars, or they're just so far away.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1267_1.asp

Venus transited of the Sun on June 8

It may not seem like a big deal, but many amateur astronomers were excited to observe Venus traverse in front of the Sun on June 8th, for the first time in 122 years-- the last time it happened was in 1882. It will happen only once again this century, on June 6, 2012.

(image: Richard Tresch Fienberg)

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1276_1.asp

Proposal to service Hubble Telescope with robotic mission

You might have heard that the Hubble Telescope is in need of repair, and will become inoperable as early as 2008 due to failing gyroscopes and weakened batteries. You might also have heard that it was tough luck, because the Space Shuttle fleet is also at its end of life, so there will be no shuttle missions to repair the telescope, leaving scientists without a major orbiting observatory until the launch of the infrared James Webb Space Telescope in 2001.

However, in June, NASA announced plans for a robotic mission by the end of 2007 to extend the Hubble's life without the services of the Space Shuttle. The mission will attached a rocket rather than replace the gyro and batteries. Another primary purpose of the mission is to direct the Hubble so when it does fall, it lands safely away from any populated areas. A final decision on this mission will be made in September.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1269_1.asp

Gravity Probe puts general relativity to the test

In April, NASA launched Gravity Probe B, a satellite designed to carry out the most accurate test yet of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Placed 400 miles high, and in circular orbit around Earth's poles, the instrument will measure effects on the fabric of space-time predicted by general relativity. "Using perfectly spherical gyroscopes aligned with the utmost precision to a distant guide star, GP-B will be able to detect any directional drift caused by the warping of near-Earth space as small as a ten-thousandth of an arcsecond," says an article in Sky and Telescope. More explanation can be found at http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1245_1.asp

Cassini spacecraft reaches Saturn

On July 1, the Cassini spacecraft reach its target, and began orbiting the planet Saturn. Launched in October 1997, it used gravity assists from Earth, Venus, and Jupiter to slingshot to its 1.5-billion-kilometer distant target (traveling 3.5 billion km so far).

Riding piggyback is the Huygens probe which will later go exploring into the depths of the planet. Cassini has been sending back fantastic photos of Saturn, it's rings, as well as its moons Titan and Enceladus. The photo here shows the closest look ever of the planet's icy rings and it's incredible structure. Note the sharp edges and boundaries separating gaps and the ring material.

(photo NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1291_1.asp

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home is Upgraded

SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. Over 500,000 individuals and corporations are presently involved in the amateur hunt for alien civilizations running the SETI@home software. The Berkeley-based project recently upgraded its software to be more generally applied to network computing tasks, allowing the project to be extended to other volunteer data crunching, like molecular biology, climate modeling, and mathematics.

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

First manned private space flight completed in June

On June 21, 2004, for the first time in history, a privately developed spacecraft, dubbed SpaceShipOne, successfully completed a trip beyond the Earth's atmosphere and returned safely to Earth landing in the Mojave Dessert in California. Test pilot Mike Melvill told reporters he had "a hell of a view from 62 miles". Officials are already gearing up to launch two back-to-back missions needed to win a $10 million Ansari X Prize, an international competition for the first team to create a reusable aircraft that can launch three passengers into sub-orbital space, return them home safely, then repeat the launch within two weeks with the same vehicle.

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/

-- compiled by Jonathan Linowes

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