October 20
CONTOUR Motor Inspection
Engineers delving into the apparent failure of NASAs Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) last August continue to be drawn to the less-than-promised performance of ATKs STAR 30BP solid-propellant rocket motor.
Insiders here at the World Space Congress are drawn to possible issues regarding certification and quality control checks in giving the rocket motor an all-clear for use. De-bonding of solid propellant fuel within the motor is suspected, said a SPACE.com source, causing the engine to under-perform.
The engines misfiring is thought to have sent a strong shock wave-like vibration through the craft, rendering CONTOUR senseless. There remains some hope of re-establishing contact with CONTOUR before years end as the probe moves into a favorable position for a radio linkup although experts consider that prospect a long shot.
October 18
Space Station Crew to Throw Out First Pitch of World Series
First it was the Oscars, now it's the World Series.
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) will grace the primetime airways Saturday when Major League Baseball's Chief Umpire Jerry Crawford calls for the traditional ceremonial first pitch in the first game of the World Series.
Through the magic of television, the ball will "virtually" travel more than 240 miles, all the way from the International Space Station (ISS) to Anaheim, Calif.
NASA astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson, following a tradition started by President William Howard Taft in 1910, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch to her battery-mate and ISS Expedition Five Commander, Russian cosmonaut Valeri Korzun. The fans at Anaheim's Edison Field and millions of television viewers will watch the virtual video courtesy of Fox Network Sports.
It's not the first time an ISS crew participated in a major pop-cultural event. In 2001, astronaut Susan Helms, with fellow Expedition Two crew members Yuri Usachev and Jim Voss, introduced Steve Martin as the host of the 73rd annual Academy Awards ceremony.
"By the way, that introduction cost the government $1 trillion,'' Martin quipped.
The ceremonial first pitch of Major League Baseball's 98th World Series undoubtedly will be the fastest due to a 17,500-mile-an-hour head start provided by the ISS.
October 17
Stardust Spacecraft to Visit Asteroid Named Annefrank
The Stardust spacecraft, en route to collect comet dust and return it to Earth, will fly by a small asteroid next month and use the opportunity to test equipment and procedures, NASA officials said this week. The asteroid, discovered in 1942 and later named Annefrank, is about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) in diameter.
"This is an engineering test," said Thomas Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We have no science goals or science expectations at Annefrank. It's an opportunity to try key procedures for the first time before we get to comet Wild- 2. We may identify problems that we can address before we reach our primary target."
Stardust will pass within about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) of the rock and will automatically snap a picture. The great distance, however, will make it impossible to see any surface detail, scientists said. Stardust is to hook up with Wild-2 in 2004 and bring samples back in 2006.How are asteroids named?
October 16
Galileo Sets up for Close, Final Jupiter Pass
The Galileo spacecraft will reach a milestone Friday, marking 13 years since the space shuttle Atlantis carried the probe into space.
Yesterday, Galileo made a penultimate pass of Jupiter prior to a Nov. 5 close encounter, when it will skim just 89,000 miles (143,000 kilometers) above the Jovian cloud tops. Thats less than two-fifths of the distance from Earth to our own Moon, and closer by half than the probe has ever been to the giant planet.
Meanwhile, NASA officials said the Galileo flight team is working furiously to prepare the craft for a flyby of Jupiters puzzling moon Amalthea, also slated for Nov. 5. That will close out the crafts service, and in 2003 it will be asked to make a suicide dive into the crushing Jovian atmosphere.
Japan Confirms Delay of MUSES-C Asteroid Mission
Japans Institute of Space and Astronautical Science confirmed this week that it will delay the launch of the MUSES-C asteroid mission from December to next May. The delay was reported last month by Space News [Story, subscription required].
An O-ring of a regulator for the crafts attitude control system broken during a checking operation, forcing the delay. The O-ring has been changed, the agency said in a statement, and an investigation determined the attitude control system has no other problems.
October 14
Nova Recovers Faster than Expected
When a star explodes as a supernova, little of the original gaseous ball remains. But with a nova -- a small cousin to the supernova -- whats deemed a partial explosion does not permanently cripple the star. In fact, these stars can recover more quickly than expected, astronomers have just learned.
Using the European Space Agencys XMM-Newton X-ray satellite, researchers watched a nova called V2487 Oph return to its previous state less than three years after a 1998 explosion in which the star released in a flash about 100,000 times more energy than the Sun gives off in a year.
Novae are actually the product of two stars. An aged white dwarf steals matter from a younger, larger companion. Gas builds up on the surface of the old star, and a nuclear reaction occurs. The outburst disrupts the flow of material from the larger star. With the V2487 Oph system, the white dwarf resumed its consumptive ways after 2.7 years.
The study, led by Margarida Hernanz of the Institut d'Estudis Espaciales de Catalunya in Spain, was published Friday in the journal Science.
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