EPOXI Mission News Options

[stevesliva]

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

[Paolo]

first Hartley 2 pictures from Deep Impact
http://epoxi.umd.edu/3gallery/Hartley2_first_light.shtml

[dmuller]

Any Epoxians here? Would love to know which current SPICE kernel to use in my realtime simulation (www.dmuller.net/epoxi ... version 3 rolling out in due course):

spk_drm230_WithBurn-full.bsp
or
spk_od230_NoBurn-full.bsp

Thanks in advance!

[stevesliva]

I've attempted to create an RSS feed for the "Daily Comet" at http://epoxi.umd.edu/6outreach/daily.shtml here:
http://feedity.com/rss.aspx/umd-edu/UVdbWlZV

(I'm sure someone is about to post an official one, but I couldn't find it, so I got to try out feedity.com's advanced features.)

Also, I'd suggest the moderators split this thread into a Comet Hartley Encounter thread beginning with the Sept. 3rd post.

[Paolo]

after Deep Impact, after EPOXI, an encore...

[NASA] REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

In February 2011, the Deep Impact spacecraft will complete its mission
(renamed EPOXI) for a study of extrasolar planets during its cruise to
encounter Comet Hartley 2.

This Request for Information (RFI) solicits input from the broad space
science community that would contribute to NASA's study of possible
new uses for the NASA Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft beyond its current
mission and would support NASA's science objectives in any of SMD's
research disciplines (Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and
Planetary Science). Responses to this RFI will be used to inform
NASA's program planning.

The RFI is posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at:

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/

(select "Solicitations" then "Open
Solicitations" then "NNH11ZDA003L").

The response date is November 5, 2010. For further information on
this RFI, please contact:

Mr. William Knopf
Science Mission Directorate
NASA Headquarters
wknopf@hq.nasa.gov

[djellison]

I'd been wondering if they would try an XXM with it

[Paolo]

Of course with the 4.15 kg of fuel remaining I doubt that they will manage to do anything more significant than EPOCh-like observations.
I tried to play a little bit with the orbital elements given in the RFI document, but it seems like the probe will not come back to the vicinity of Earth before 2018, so no gravity assist possible

[jmknapp]

Any Epoxians here? Would love to know which current SPICE kernel to use in my realtime simulation (www.dmuller.net/epoxi ... version 3 rolling out in due course):

spk_drm230_WithBurn-full.bsp
or
spk_od230_NoBurn-full.bsp

Thanks in advance!

I'd be curious to know too. I just published a Hartley 2 app that runs on Android devices & used the spk_od230_NoBurn-full.bsp file. It seems that that's still the file with the most recent datestamp on the NAIF website.

Searching on "hartley" in the Android market will bring up the app.

Joe

[djellison]

I get the loading screen, then it crashes out

CODE

The application Hartley2 (process com.naif.spicedemo3) has stopped unexpectedly

DroidX on 2.2

[jmknapp]

I get the loading screen, then it crashes out

CODE

The application Hartley2 (process com.naif.spicedemo3) has stopped unexpectedly

DroidX on 2.2

Thanks for checking it out--I just tried it on the 2.2 emulator & indeed it crashed. I just uploaded a new version to the market & would appreciate it if you give it another try.

[djellison]

Yup - it works now

[jmknapp]

Yup - it works now

Thanks for helping me test this--I only have a version 1.6 device (G1) & for later versions the emulator can only go so far, like it doesn't test the GPS features. I trust that your latitude and longitude were displayed correctly? If it can't read the geolocation, it defaults to Greenwich (0W, 51.67N).

[jmknapp]

Managed to get a shot of Hartley 2 the other night:
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x269/jm..._garden_det.jpg

Here's a little wider context:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x269/jm...103p_garden.jpg

That's a 60-second exposure with an Olympus E-510 DSLR, 1000mm refracting telescope as a telephoto lens.

Stellarium had this configuration:

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x269/jm...tellarium-1.png

By the time of the Deep Impact flyby on Nov. 4th around 10:02 a.m. ET, Hartley 2 will be a little further away (0.156 AU vs. 0.122 AU). It should be possible to photograph the comet that morning. From my location in Ohio Hartley 2 will rise around midnight on Nov. 4 and will be at about 60 degree elevation in the south around daybreak, and it will be a new moon. Ah, to be in Hawaii to photograph it at the actual time of the flyby--among other advantages.

ADMIN : Embedded images changed to links. Don't put huge images in-line in posts.

[Vultur]

At what point will Deep Impact's pictures be higher resolution than Earthbound observatories'? I thought I'd seen that information on Emily's blog, but I can't find it now...

[ugordan]

Well, neither can really resolve the nucleus. DI will likely be able to do so just several hours before C/A. Calculating when the pixel scale on the coma will exceed earthbound observations is probably not a very useful number.

[charborob]

About the flyby, here is an excerpt from the official encounter schedule (http://epoxi.umd.edu/7press/schedule.shtml):
"The cometary nucleus will be resolved ~1 hour out with the spacecraft 45,000 km away from its target. **Closest approach of comet Hartley 2 is expected to occur at ~6:50 am PDT at a distance of 700 km.** [...] The MRI pixel scale at closest approach will be 7 m/pixel, giving a nuclear diameter of ~170 pixels in the highest resolution images."