A team of California astronomers have announced the discovery of yet another planet orbiting a star, in this case a planet nearly the size of Jupiter orbiting near a solar-class star.
According to initial reports, the planet has a mass of at least 0.8 Jupiter masses. It orbits the star HR3522, a sixth-magnitude star 44 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Cancer. With an orbital period of just under 15 days, the planet would be located only about 0.1 AU from the Sun-like star.
The planet was discovered by the team of Geoff Marcy of San Francisco State University and Paul Butler of the University of California Berkeley. They indirectly detect the planets by making precise radial velocity observations of sets of stars and look for any periodic variations that would be caused by a planetary companion tugging at the star.
The planet is the third Marcy and Butler and their group have discovered. In January they announced the discovery of a 8-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting the star 70 Virginis and a 3.5-Jupiter-mass planet around 47 Ursa Majoris. Last fall they confirmed the discovery of a 0.5-Jupiter-mass planet orbiting 51 Pegasi discovered by European astronomers Michel Major and Didier Queloz.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
A Russian Proton rocket launched an American-built communications satellite into orbit Tuesday, April 9, the first time a Russian rocket has been used to launch an American commercial spacecraft.
The Proton D-1-E launched the Hughes Astra-1F satellite into orbit shortly before 10 am Moscow time Tuesday from the launch facility at Baikonur, Kazahkstan. The satellite successfully reached orbit, according to Russian officials.
The satellite will be used by the Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES), a Luxembourg-based firm, to transmit radio and TV programming across Europe. SES has used five similar satellites but launched them on Europe's Ariane 4 booster.
The launch was marketed by International Launch Services, a joint venture of Khrunichev and Energia in Russia and Lockheed Martin in the U.S. According to a Khrunichev spokesman, 20 such launched are planned by 2000.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
A NASA 747 ferrying the space shuttle Atlantis back to the Kennedy Space Center from California was forced to turn around and land at Edwards Air Force Base April 6 minutes after takeoff when the crew was warned of a possible engine fire.
The Boeing jet returned to Edwards safely. An investigation of the plane after landing showed damage to one of the jet's 4 engines, but it could not be confirmed if the damage came from a fire or other problems. The shuttle suffered no damage.
The flight was required when Atlantis landed in California March 31 at the end of the STS-76 mission. Attempts to land at the primary site in Florida were scrubbed for two consecutive days due to poor weather, with no sign of immediate improvement.
The incident, which delayed Atlantis's return to Florida be several days, should have little impact on upcoming launches. The next launch of Atlantis is not planned until later this summer, when it will return to Mir to replace astronaut Shannon Lucid, currently aboard Mir, with John Blaha.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
Three technologies developed by NASA that have been spunoff into life-saving uses, such as fire-resistant materials and pressure suits, were inducted into the "Space Technology Hall of Fame" April 11.
One technology inducted into the Hall of Fame was the anti-shock trousers. Based on pressure suits worn by high-performance jet pilots and astronauts to keep blood and other fluids from shifting around, the trousers are used to control internal bleeding in severely-injured patients. NASA estimates that the trousers have been used over two million times since their introduction in 1969.
Also inducted into the hall were fire-resistant materials that could be applied to flammable objects to prevent direct ignition during a fire. The technology, developed after the Apollo 1 fire, is now used on the seat fabric in commercial aircraft.
The "radiation barrier", a thin polymer film that can insulate materials from temperature extremes, was also placed in the hall. These materials have now found a number of commercial applications from cars to homes and buildings.
The technologies join over twenty other space-related technologies that have been placed in the hall since its creation in 1988. The induction took place in Colorado Springs during the U. S. Space Foundation's National Space Symposium.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
Mitsubishi Corporation became the first company to sign a contract with LunaCorp, providing an undisclosed but "substantial" amount of money to LunaCorp to help sponsor its Lunar Rover Expedition.
"Mitsubishi Corp. is excited about the commercial and scientific potential of privately-organized lunar development," said Ron Horii, manager of space and electronic development for Mitsubishi's Los Angeles office.
LunaCorp continues to seek commercial sponsors for the $200-million expedition, planned for a 1999 launch. The plan calls for 2 rovers, built by the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, to cross the lunar surface and visit the landing sites of Apollo 11 and 17 as well as three unmanned spacecraft.
"The Expedition will allow direct public participation in the actual exploration," said LunaCorp President David Gump. "Sponsoring companies will be able to give their customers the ability to drive on the Moon, by remote control, and experience lunar exploration first-hand." Others will be able to experience the rover's travels using high-definition video and motion platforms, according to Gump.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
After a lack of money delayed Russian space station efforts and American officials threatened to expel Russia from the project, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has promised to release authorized funds to the Russian Space Agency.
RSA chief Yuri Koptev announced at a press conference April 11 that Chernomyrdin, the number-two man in the Russian government, would sign an order ordering the Finance Ministry to release funds to support Russia's part of the international space station.
The resolution to the problem will "allow us to maintain our position in 1996 and to form trust with our partners," Koptev said.
To date, only seven percent of the funds appropriated for the first quarter of 1996 for RSA had been released. The agency was budgeted 3.3 trillion rubles (approx. $670 million) for 1996, only about five percent of NASA's budget.
The funding release comes after U.S. Vice President Al Gore, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, and several members of Congress wrote to Chernomyrdin, requesting that money be freed for the project. The U.S. had threatened to remove Russia from the space station project if Russia's efforts weren't back on track by the end of May.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
In a call for a "new space vision," TRW Chairman Joseph Gorman called on the U.S. to develop a national space strategy or else risk its national and economic security.
In a keynote address at the U.S. Space Foundation's National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Gorman called for a "clear, cohesive, and integrated national strategy" that would prioritize American efforts in Earth observation, space and planetary science, commercial ventures and military needs.
"Meaningful change is required, and it is the responsibility of the principal participants to do the bulk of the work," Gorman said. He called on a number of government agencies, including NASA, the Defense Department and the Department of Transportation, as well as private companies, to participate.
Gorman cited a number of changes in international climate, including the rise of newly industrialized countries in East Asia and increased competition in the launch market from Europe, Russia, and China, as motivating forces for an American space strategy. "Unless we act with deliberate speed and a sense of urgency, we risk losing our preeminent position in space," he said.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
NASA announced Friday it had taken a major step with two aerospace firms to consolidate its shuttle contracts into a single prime contract covering all shuttle services.
Two agreements signed Friday named United Space Alliance as the new prime contractor for shuttle processing work done at the Kennedy Space Center and operations work done at Johnson Space Center. USA is a joint venture of Rockwell and Lockheed Martin, and takes over for Lockheed Space Operations Company at KSC and Rockwell at JSC.
"This agreement basically constitutes a name change for contracts that will essentially remain intact for the near term," said Space Shuttle Program Manager Tommy Holloway. However, Holloway added, it marks the first phase of a transition to a single contract that will be more efficient than current operations without compromising safety.
Last November, NASA announced that it was pursuing a single non-competitive contract with USA to handle all shuttle operations on a single contract. Friday's agreements are designed to speed the transition to a single contract. It's expected to be at least several more months before further work towards a single contract will be completed.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
A German-American team of astrophysicists using a German X-ray satellite made the first ever discovery of X-rays coming from a comet, the spectacular comet Hyakutake, earlier this month.
Observations of the comet using the ROSAT satellite in late March detected an X-ray intensity 100 times greater than even the most optimistic prediction, leaving open the question of how the X-rays are produced. Pronounced changes in the brightness over the course of only a few hours were also observed.
"We had no clear expectation that comets shine in X-rays," said Dr. Michael J. Mumma of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Now we have our work cut out for us in explaining these data, but that's the kind of problem you love to have."
Two theories have been proposed to explain the X-ray emission observed. One hypothesis states that the cloud of gas around the comet is thick enough to absorb solar X-rays and reemit them in all directions. Another states that the X-rays are produced by violent collisions between cometary material and the solar wind.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
A project between astronomers in Australia and New Zealand has resulted in the first observations of interstellar dust, from apparently three discrete extrasolar sources, entering Earth's atmosphere.
The team of astronomers used the AMOR radar near Christchurch, New Zealand, to measure small meteoroids as they enetered the Earth's atmosphere. They found a number of small objects, 15 to 40 microns in diameter, that hit the Earth's atmosphere at 100 kilometers per second or faster. Such velocities imply that the dust particles were coming from outside the solar system.
Three sources of extrasolar dust were identified in the study. One is related to a nearby cluster of A-type stars. A second source appears to be from the rotation of the solar system around the galaxy. A third, tentatively identified source is another cluster of brighter B-type stars.
Astronomers suggest that dust sources from the hot, bright stars is significant in planetary evolution. The hot A- and B-type stars may be too hot to permit planets to condense, leaving only dust which eventually escapes from the star. This would be different than how dust is produced in the solar system, which relies on the decay of comets and asteroid collisions.
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
Tax Relief for California Aerospace: A bill introduced in the California State Assembly by former X-15 pilot William "Pete" Knight would provide tax credits of up to 1.5 percent for sales made by California aerospace firms to NASA and the Defense Department. The credits would be applicable to research, development, and manufacture of aerospace equipment and would be in effect from 1997 until 2001. Knight, a Republican assemblyman from Palmdale, holds the world record for powered flight in an aircraft, flying at Mach 6.7 in an X-15. A copy of the bill is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.sen.ca.gov/archives/bill/current/AB/FROM2300/AB2361/ or from Knight's office at 916/445-7498 (fax: 916/327-1789).
MSX Launch Set for April 19: The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite, a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) experimental spacecraft, is scheduled for launch on a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on April 19. The MSX spacecraft will use passive infrared radiation detectors to track test objects released in orbit. Such technology is needed to be able to track warheads released by an ICBM after its engines stop firing. The spacecraft also carries a number of other experiments to perform environmental monitoring, study in-orbit contamination of optical instruments, and examine the population of small debris in orbit.
Astronauts Retire: Two NASA astronauts, David Walker and Bernard Harris, announced Friday their intention to retire from the astronaut corps. Walker, a veteran of four shuttle missions, three of which as commander, is leaving NASA to become a vice president for NDC Voice Corp., a southern California-based wireless communications corporation. Harris, who flew on two shuttle flights and became the first African-American to walk in space on the STS-63 mission last year, will become a vice president with SPACEHAB, the Houston-based company that built and operates the habitable modules used on space shuttle flights for extra experimental space.
Fast Flybys: Argentina and Brazil reached an agreement earlier this month to cooperate in space ventures. The treaty will allow Argentine companies to launch their satellites from Brazilian facilities and opens the possibility of a joint satellite project... A sermon by the Rev. Raymond Barber will become the first to be heard in outer space, according to a UPI report. The Fort Worth Baptist minister will tape a sermon that will be ferried next month to the Mir space station, at the request of astronaut Shannon Lucid... You can read about Gary Hudson's latest project, the Roton space helicopter, in the May issue of Wired magazine. The article, written by Hudson, discusses the basics behind the spacecraft and how it can reduce the cost of space access. A synopsis of the article is available on the Web at http://www.hotwired.com/wired/4.05/roton/index.html .
[ Return to Table of Contents ] [ Go To SpaceViews Forum ]
