Restarting the NewsBlog...

Let's see if I can keep this up now... I certainly hope so! Now, for some interesting scientific news articles...

Galileo Hits Glitch in Final Flyby of Io
The Galileo spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 1995, performed its last flyby of the moon Io on Thursday, Jan. 17. However, because the spacecraft erroniously shut down it's on-board computer systems, no data was collected. Scientists were highly disappointed, as this was to be the closest pass to Io's surface: only 62 miles up. They were, however, not entire unsuspecting of an error of this nature beforehand, since Galileo has lasted four years beyond it's scheduled life, and has survived around three-and-a-half times the radiation it was designed to handle. In it's life, the spacecraft has taken some 14,000 photographs of Jupiter and it's moons, and has been called an incredible success, even in light of other system failures along the way (including the loss of the onboard video recording system, design to relay near-live video footage of Jupiter's atmosphere, and the loss of the high-band antenna, which forced NASA to rely upon the low-band antenna, severely limiting the number of photos Galileo was capable of sendign back to Earth). Galileo was launched in October 1989 from Kennedy Space Center, and will soon be sent into a death plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere, which scientist's explain is a method of cleaning up after themselves; specifically, to avoid polluting the moon Europa's surface (believed to contain a massive liquid water ocean and possible life).

Mars Odyssey Completes Aerobraking Maneuvers
On Friday, Jan. 11, the Mars Odyssey spacecraft completed a series of orbits known as Aerobraking, maneuvers designed to bring Odyssey into an appropriate orbit for carrying out it's experiments without expending very much of it's critical propulsive fuel. To accomplish this feat, Odyssey orbited Mars 332 times in a series of ever-tightening ovals. Over the next few weeks, the spacecraft handlers will fine-tune the orbit until the optimum mapping altitude of 249-miles. Experiments are due to begin in late February.

Another Day That Will Live In Infamy...

...another day that will forever be remembered for a tragedy of untold proportions. September 11, 2001. It is a day now etched into the memories of a billion or more people around the world. Around 9:00a.m., two United and two American Airlines passenger liners were hijacked, resulting in two jets crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City, one hitting the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and another crashing in rural Pennsylvania (now thought to be because of passengers attempting to take back control of the plane and acting to direct it away from another target). Though initially the WTC towers held up to the hits, they eventually succumbed and imploded in on themselves. At the Pentagon, one of the building's sides had a hole blown through its outer three rings.

The death toll now stands at nearly 6,000, but it is only through a matter of luck that many many more weren't killed... In the case of the Pentagon, the area hit was already partially evacuated due to reconstruction work (appx 100 killed, including those in the aircraft), and in the WTC, there are many reports of people not going in to work, being late for work, or other circumstances. Early estimates had put the death toll at over 10,000 because considerably more people were expected to be in the buildings. As the cleanup effort moved on in the days afterward, rescuers found few bodies, and far far fewer survivors in the rubble, and the number of bodies found is not expected to change at this point. More than likely, the intense heat and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of debris falling down simply incinerated the remains... Even now, over a month later, there are fires burning underground as a result of the tremendous amount of heat and friction produced on that day.

It is expected to take months of daily work to clear the rubble and allow for a final damage assessment. The imploding WTC towers rained amazing amounts of material down on the surrounding buildings, causing heavy structural damage to those in the immediate vicinity, knocking out utilities to those blocks around, even collapsing two other buildings in the WTC and World Financial Center complex. Other buildings, though currently they are structurally sound and in no danger of collapsing, are so heavily damaged that they will have to be brought down and rebuilt. People on the scene described the area immediately after the incident as looking like a bomb had gone off, or that a tornado had come through. A fine layer of concrete dust had settled on everything within about a 10 block radius of the WTC complex, turning that area into a dusty gray fog as the particles lingered in the air.

:::Next, the leadup to and execution of the retaliation against Afganistan's Taliban and Osama bin Laden:::

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To Touch The Sun

The test of a solar sail spacecraft became a failure when the craft did not separate from it's booster housing. The test was only to see how separation and sail initialization would work, though part two was never to be. The two small, twin sails were to unfurl to full length during the short suborbital flight, and then burn up with the rest of the craft upon reentry. With the non-profit Planetary Society footing the $5 million bill for the entire set of launches, there is some doubt as to the short-term future of this project. Many Society members remain hopeful, however, that the full-sized craft will be launched in 2002. What makes solar sail technology so special is that it uses the push of photons on the giant sails to move through space, albeit in a single direction at the moment. If launched within a few years, a probe using solar sails could beat the Voyager spacecraft (which were launched in the 70's) out of the solar system. That means a solar sail craft could reach speeds of up to 10 times that of normal chemical rocket powered probes. However, the usefulness of solar sail probes is in doubt already, since it is now known that there exists outside of the solar system a boundary where photons from our system cancels out those from other systems. At this point, if the sails were not closed down, the craft would come to a halt in interstellar space; not a good place for future space travellers to be. Perhaps the sails could be moved and manipulated like old ocean-going ships; in this way, the craft could steer, and be practical for in-system travel. As with so many other things, time will tell.

Of perhaps even greater short-term consequence is the very public issue of stem-cell research funding. While the scientific possibilities of this type of research could open up many medical cures for different syndromes and diseases, there are many religious and social organizations vehemently opposed to this because of the fact that the primary source of stem-cells are week-old human embryos. Pro-research factions make the point that the cells would be obtained from embryos in stored fertility clinic freezers, which would never be used and subsequently be throw out. Also pointed out is that another relatively good source of stem-cells is female breast tissue. Anti-research groups continue to oppose any and all research, however. At this point, it is up to the government and President Bush whether to give the go ahead for funding. It is very possible that the funding will be made available (there is great support for it in Congress), even in light of the fact that Bush and Congress pass a law banning human cloning. It is expected that a decision will be made in the upcoming months.

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Bing,Bang,Boom...all in a day's work

Three major events have occurred lately, two opening up new areas of space exploration and understanding, and one, new hostility towards the U.S.

First up is the recent testing of the proposed missile defense system. Quite a bit was at stake in this test, since two of the three prior had utterly failed. At a cost of $100 million, I think it was rather wise, from a public relations standpoint at least, to wait until the last day or so to widely announce the test. The public, given more time and warning, would have likely erupted in protest, and even then, four people were arrested in the waters near Vandenburg AFB. The missile defense system is already regarded as a large-scale corporate relations project and a complete waste of money by most. In that light, I can understand the Pentagon's elation at having a successful launch and interception. The "warhead" missile was launched from Vandenburg (California), and was sent on a trajectory over the Pacific Ocean towards the Kwajalein Atoll, where an intercept missile was launched from. Interception was a short time later, about 4000 miles away from the Atoll. More test and infrastructure construction will undoubted come with this success, though perhaps influence and intervention from other countries will help to lessen the overall project.

Another story is the news of the Genesis probe. This spacecraft will orbit with the Earth at the L1 gravity point, keeping a near-constant stream of solar wind on it's collection panels. It is expected that every naturally occurring element, and perhaps even some new elements or particles, will be captured during the three years it is orbiting. At the end of it's mission, a capsule containing the solar collectors will be sent back to Earth for a reentry and midair catch by helicopter, so as to not take a chance of damaging or contaminating the sensitive instruments and panels during a normal touchdown. Once back on the ground, the samples will be taken to the same secure location where the moon rocks and other sensitive samples are stored. From there, small amounts will be doled out to researchers around the world. Though only a tiny amount of material will actually be collected on the panels, a few grams at most, it is expected that there will be enough material to last scientists a century of research. Launch of the probe is scheduled for July 30th, with a projected return date of September 2004.

Finally, the space shuttle Atlantis has just returned from a mission to install the new airlock Quest on the International Space Station Alpha. This airlock will allow astronauts on the station to perform their own spacewalks, without the need of a space shuttle to perform airlock duties. Coupled with the Canadarm II, this will allow the station to become more independent than ever, and to do more for itself than before. The airlock was actually installed on July 14th, however, a few problems sprung up, namely, leaks in an air line and water line running between the station and the installed airlock. The water leak was solved quickly, but the air leak required the replacement of a part (a valve, I believe). Later in the mission, high pressure oxygen tanks were installed on the outside of the airlock, their purpose being to repressurize and depressurize the lock during egress and ingress cycling. The mission ended with Atlantis successfully landing at Cape Canaveral early in the morning of the 25th.

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