Issue #5 (January 2014)
Keeping an eye on launch-day weather
Before MAVEN can study the atmosphere of Mars, it had to not only overcome Earth’s gravity but also make it through Earth’s atmosphere. Central Florida’s sometimes volatile weather can make launching rockets difficult. Weather is responsible for more than a third of launch delays and nearly half of the scrubs. The meteorologists of the 45th …
NASA’s MAVEN on way to Mars
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) space probe thundered to space on Nov. 18 following a flawless blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a powerful Atlas V 401 rocket. “Hey Guys we’re going to Mars!” gushed Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator at a post …
India’s first Mars probe joins MAVEN in race to Red Planet
Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes. The Trans Mars Insertion (TMI) firing propelled India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) away from Earth forever and placed the spacecraft on course for a rendezvous with the Red Planet on September 24, …
NASA Mars spacecraft reveals a more dynamic Red Planet
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed to scientists slender dark markings — possibly due to salty water – that advance seasonally down slopes surprisingly close to the Martian equator. “The equatorial surface region of Mars has been regarded as dry, free of liquid or frozen water, but we may need to rethink that,” said Alfred …
The Auroras of Planet Earth
Nature has an uncanny knack of producing some of the most spectacular astronomical events we can witness, the likes of Solar eclipses, meteor showers and other phenomenon that never fail to impress. There is one event however, that once you witness it, it will be burnt into your memory and will stay with you for …
Watching Earth’s winds, on a shoestring
Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn’t your average NASA Earth science mission. Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to …