[SEDS-Earth] News Updates

[Sabyasachi Bhowmick]

   1. *Extraordinary Results' Expected from Revamped Hubble

   *

   *Now that the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is back up and
   running, with its first images unveiled last week, the astronomical
   community — and the public at large — has a bevy of new images and
   observations to look forward to.*

   *In fact some observations have already produced extraordinary results,
   not yet announced, from the earliest epoch of the universe, according to
   a Hubble project scientist.*

   *Hubble was revamped during a 13-day shuttle mission in May that gave the
   19-year-old telescope a new camera and super-sensitive spectrograph and
   repaired one of its old cameras and spectrographs, as well as giving it new
   batteries and gyroscopes, which help it point accurately at celestial
   objects.*

   *These upgrades, performed by the Atlantis astronaut crew, are expected
   to extend the space telescope's life through at least 2014, if not longer.
   *

   *Hubble has already started making new observations after its three-month
   checkout phase, with the first images showing distant clusters of galaxies,
   an eerie "pillar of creation," a densely packed star cluster, and a
   "butterfly" nebula.*

   *Those observations were the first of many that Hubble will make over the
   coming year as part of Hubble's Cycle 17. During about 3,400 orbits, Hubble
   will make observations for 228 programs pre-selected through a peer-reviewed
   process and submitted by astronomers from all over the world, said David
   Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
   Center in Greenbelt, Md.**

   2.  Additional Indian rover on Chandrayaan-II
   A small Indian rover, wheeling the country’s hopes on the lunarscape,
   will travel to the moon on Chandrayaan-II.This will be in addition to the
   Russian rover, one of the main payloads on board the second moon mission,
   making this one of the first missions to carry two robotic payloads on it.

   While the Russian rover weighs about 50 kg, the Indian one is smaller and
   weighs only 15 kg. The Russian rover, which is significantly more advanced
   and versatile, will carry out all the major explorations while the Indian
   one will separately undertake chemical analysis and the search for
   availability of materials on the surface of the moon.

   The design is totally indigenous. And a significant part of the rover,
   including the crucial communication links, is being fabricated in Kerala.
   The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a twin objective in
   sending up a desi rover. One aim is to gain experience in robotic payloads
   but the main idea is to achieve the capability of remotely controlling a
   system to execute various commands communicated from the Bangalore station.
   India needs to perfect its deep space communication as the space race is so
   dependent on effecting transmission of commands to the payloads and
   reception of data collected by them.

   At the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO scientists are working
   to develop radio frequency transmitters.These transmitters will travel on
   the rover, controlling its movement on the moon and directing it to collect
   samples. The ISRO, however, is not planning to do serious chemical
   examination on the rover.Apart from achieving communication prowess, ISRO
   hopes to learn valuable lessons in soft landing payloads on alien surfaces
   through the rover experiment.The Russians have handed over the design and
   specifications of its rover for fabrication of its traction in association
   with ISRO using facilities in ITTs like Kharagpur.

   The only experience ISRO has in landing payloads is what it gained
   through the crash-landing of the moon impact probe (MIP) sent on the
   ill-fated Chandrayaan-I. Since the MIP was intended to crash on the lunar
   surface and cause dust displacement for understanding of the terrain, not
   much thought was given to landing techniques.

   With ISRO deciding to carry two rovers, the possibility of flying free
   payloads remains a moot point. In fact, the decision to carry 11 payloads on
   Chandrayaan- I and whether it affected its thermal management is being
   actively debated. Scientists feel that had the spacecraft been less
   congested internal heat could have been more effectively ventilated. This
   could restrain ISRO from inviting free payloads from other space agencies or
   universities.
   3.

     NASA: Lunar orbiter begins mapping, studying moon surface

   Carrying seven scientific instruments and an intricate communications
   system, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun the year-long
   process of mapping the surface of the moon.

   The spacecraft, which launched on June 18, has successfully wrapped up
   its 60-day testing and calibration phase, according to NASA. The orbiter has
   begun sending back images of the lunar surface, along with data collected
   by its instruments.

   The craft is orbiting about 31 miles above the surface of the moon, which
   is the closest that any spacecraft has orbited the moon, NASA said.

   "The [orbiter] mission already has begun to give us new data that will
   lead to a vastly improved atlas of the lunar south pole and advance our
   capability for human exploration and scientific benefit," said Richard
   Vondrak, a project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a
   statement.

   The space agency is hoping that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, along
   with its partner, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite,
   will provide unprecedented detail about the moon. Along with mapping the
   surface, scientists are hoping to search for resources, like water, along
   with safe landing sites for future trips. The craft can also measure lunar
   temperatures and radiation levels.


   *

 --
Sabyasachi
President SEDS India
SEDS India
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