EPOXI Mission News |
EPOXI Mission News |
May 28 2008, 07:48 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1598 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Looks like the Deep Impact list has been revived. Posting here for others to get back on board:
********************************************************************** EPOXI E-News #1 May 2008 ********************************************************************** WELCOME BACK! Did you know that the Deep Impact Flyby Spacecraft has a new assignment? The EPOXI mission combines two exciting science investigations in an entirely new mission that re-uses the Deep Impact spacecraft. The Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh) investigation will observe stars that have known transiting giant planets. The Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI) of comets observes comet 103P/Hartley 2 during a close flyby in October 2010. The education and public outreach team decided to get back in touch with our Deep Impact friends and begin sending out newsletters again to keep you informed of these two exciting investigations! During the two years since our last newsletter for Deep Impact, the science team has stayed busy continuing to do more analysis on the data collected in July 2005. The science team also proposed and was awarded an extended mission teaming up with a group from Goddard Space Flight Center. EPOXI website: http://epoxi.umd.edu/ Mission Overview: http://epoxi.umd.edu/1mission/index.shtml Press Releases: http://epoxi.umd.edu/7press/index.shtml DI Results: http://deepimpact.umd.edu/results/ ********************************************************************** MISSION STATUS Dr. Deming, Principal Investigator (PI) for the EPOCh portion of the mission, sends us the latest mission status report in which he tells us about the current observing target GJ436. “This is an exciting time for EPOCh, as we search for an exo-Earth orbiting a stellar neighbor of our Sun!” reports Dr Deming. He also talks about the plans to observe a very special planet in late May and early June. Read his status report as well as past reports from other team members at http://epoxi.umd.edu/1mission/status.shtml ********************************************************************** EPOCh TARGETS The EPOCh component of the EPOXI mission will carefully study a small number of stars in order to learn more about planets that we know are orbiting those stars by watching the planets as they transit (cross in front of) the star. EPOCh will also search for clues to other planets that might be orbiting the same stars. Read more about the EPOCh science targets to find out which stars are being observed. http://epoxi.umd.edu/2science/targets.shtml ********************************************************************** PLANET QUEST Are we alone? For centuries, human beings have pondered this question. Medieval scholars speculated that other worlds must exist and that some would harbor other forms of life. In our time, advances in science and technology have brought us to the threshold of finding an answer to this timeless question. The recent discovery of numerous planets around stars other than the sun confirms that our solar system is not unique. Indeed, these "exoplanets" appear to be common in our galactic neighborhood. The EPOCh investigation is part of a larger family of missions studying extrasolar planets. Learn more at the Jet Propulsion Lab Planet Quest Web site. http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm ********************************************************************** OBSERVING CHALLENGE The transits that will be studied for EPOCh are extremely difficult to observe because the change in brightness is very small and requires high precision photometry that can be accomplished with instruments on the Deep Impact spacecraft. Observers on Earth can still take a look at the stars in the night time sky. The selected stars are also pretty dim because we don’t want them to saturate or over expose the spacecraft instruments but they are bright enough to be visible in amateur telescopes if the sky conditions are good and the skies are dark. Like people, stars have multiple identifiers. EPOCh’s first target was a star labeled as HAT-P-4 by the scientists observing it. They made their own list of target stars so that was their shorthand name. But HAT-P-4 has numerous other names which are more useful in identifying it in other databases. HAT-P-4 = SAO 64638 = TYC 2569-1599-1 is a magnitude 11, G-class star located in the constellation Boötes. Chart: http://epoxi.umd.edu/2science/challenge.shtml ********************************************************************** SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Please forward this e-mail to others interested in NASA missions. New subscribers may join the EPOXI Mission e-news mailing list on our website at: http://epoxi.umd.edu/6outreach/newsletter.shtml |
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Jun 21 2009, 06:38 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
From the latest Discovery and New Frontiers Newsletter
Although the EPOXI mission's spacecraft is in a period of relative inactivity, the team is actively working on a number of areas of interest, including characterizing the next target, comet Hartley 2. Several investigations have been carried out to characterize the nuclear size and albedo, the large dust, and the rotation of the nucleus. These studies are timed for the period before the nucleus begins outgassing significantly as it approaches the sun. Another effort is to determine the Hartley 2’s rotational period to design the observing sequence for the approach to the comet. A series of observations with the Hubble Space Telescope in late April were somewhat puzzling. Subsequent observations with a variety of groundbased telescopes, particularly with Hawaii’s GeminiSouth and GeminiNorth on the same night, suggest a rotational period near 2/3 day, but with narrow minima that were not caught in the HST observations. The team is preparing to continue its role in testing software that could lead to improved interplanetary network communications. Last fall, a NASAwide team used DisruptionTolerant Networking, or DTN, software to transmit dozens of space images to and from the Deep Impact spacecraft which was more than 20 million miles from Earth. The test was called DINET (Deep Impact DTN experiment). Computers on the ground at JPL were used to simulate stations on Earth, Mars, and the Martian moon Phobos. The experiment was successful, with all the data transmitted without corruption even as various faults and breakdowns in the system were simulated. The team was pleased to support this activity that will ultimately lead to much better communications across the solar system. The Preliminary Design Review for DINET2 was conducted on May 13. The current timeline is being reviewed to determine when to begin DINET2 activities on the spacecraft. It may begin following the infrared imaging of Earth at high southern latitudes scheduled for August 17. |
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