MAVEN commissioning & Siding Spring encounter |
MAVEN commissioning & Siding Spring encounter |
Sep 22 2014, 02:27 PM
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Congratulations to the whole MAVEN team for a successful orbit insertion yesterday. Here's a look at what we can expect for the next 7 weeks of the mission:
First week after MAVEN Mars Orbit Insertion (Sep 21-28)
Second week after MAVEN arrival (Sep 29-Oct 4)
Third week after MAVEN arrival (Oct 5-11)
Fourth week after MAVEN arrival (Oct 12-18)
Fifth week after MAVEN arrival (Oct 19-25)
Sixth week after MAVEN arrival (Oct 26-Nov 1)
Seventh week after MAVEN arrival (Nov 2-8)
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Sep 24 2014, 06:12 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 89 Joined: 27-August 05 From: Eccentric Mars orbit Member No.: 477 |
Just released:
QUOTE The MAVEN spacecraft has obtained its first observations of the extended upper atmosphere surrounding Mars. LASP's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument obtained these false-color images eight hours after the successful completion of Mars orbit insertion. The image shows the planet from an altitude of 36,500 km in three ultraviolet wavelength bands. Blue shows the ultraviolet light at 121.6nm from the sun scattered from atomic hydrogen gas in an extended cloud that goes to thousands of kilometers above the planet’s surface. Green shows a 130.4nm ultraviolet light that is primarily sunlight scattered by atomic oxygen, showing the smaller oxygen cloud. Red shows ultraviolet sunlight at 180-340nm reflected from the planet’s surface; the bright spot in the lower right is light reflected either from polar ice or clouds. This is the first UV image to simultaneously record emissions from multiple gases in Mars’ atmosphere. The oxygen gas is held close to the planet by Mars’ gravity, while lighter hydrogen gas is present to higher altitudes and extends past the edges of the image. These gases derive from the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere. Over the course of its one-Earth-year primary science mission, MAVEN observations like these will be used to determine the loss rate of hydrogen and oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. These observations will allow us to determine the amount of water that has escaped from the planet over time. The Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph was built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with Bill McClintock as Instrument Scientist, Mark Lankton and Rory Barrett as project managers. Justin Deighan, Mike Chaffin, Chris Jeppesen, and Dale Theiling designed the unique observations and performed the all-nighter imaging processing in the hours after Mars Orbit Insertion. The LASP Ops staff (Michelle Kelley, Jerel Moffet and Colin Stewart) made immediate access to the data possible. MANY THANKS to all involved! Nick Schneider and the MAVEN/IUVS Team (Image credit: LASP/University of Colorado and NASA) Since this is an imaging spectrograph, there is a full spectrum from about 100nm to 340nm for every pixel in this image. It is reduced to three colors for the benefit of those of us who don't have spectrometers for eyes. I'd say it is pretty good for a spacecraft that doesn't have a camera... |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 15th May 2024 - 03:38 AM |
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