Astronomy News "Its all about Mars" - For March, 2021
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Astronomy News
For March, 2021
“Its all about Mars”
UAE HOPE ORBITER REACHES MARS FEBRUARY 9, 2021 • Mission is to study Mars atmosphere and climate. • A truly multinational effort including three universities in the US, launched from Japan, assisted by India and others. • The UAE is only the fifth country to successfully reach Mars • The name ”Hope” was chosen to inspire hope and optimism in young Arabs. • https://skyandtelescope.org/astronom y-news/united-arab-emirates-hope- enters-orbit-mars/
China’s Tianwen-1 enters Mars orbit Feb. 10, 2021 • Tianwen means “heavenly questions” or “questions to the heavens.” • Consists of Orbiter and Rover (to land May or June 2021) • Rover includes powerful cameras plus radar to detect subsurface water • https://www.sciencefocus.com/n ews/tianwen-1-china-mars- mission-launches-aboard-long- march-5-rocket/
NASA Perseverance Rover lands on Mars February 18, 2021 Spectacular, breathtaking landing watched by millions worldwide Watch and listen to the first audible sounds : https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8870/nasas-mars-perseverance-rover-provides-front-row-seat-to-landing-first- audio-recording-of-red-planet/
NASA Perseverance Rover • The largest and most capable Rover ever sent to Mars • This geology based mission will search for ancient life and examine rocks and soil • It will collect and store samples to be retrieved by a future mission and returned to Earth (within a decade) • It will also test ability to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere • Includes the helicopter Ingenuity to attempt first flight this Spring • The Perseverance Mission will pave the way for future exploration • Primary mission to last one Martian year (687 Earth days)
Mars Perseverance Rover
• Perseverance design
derived from the
Curiosity rover
• Includes many
components already
fabricated and tested
plus new scientific
instruments
• Contains a Core Drill
• Employs 19 cameras
and two microphones
MOXIE: Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/
Mars Helicopter Ingenuity • May launch in March if all goes well • Must go through a battery of tests including: • How well did it survive the launch, journey and landing? • How well can it survive extreme heat and cold? • Can it recharge itself and keep warm? • Will it have enough lift to fly in a less dense atmosphere? • Tests will prove invaluable for future exploration. • Ingenuity will be the first controlled flight on another planet. • This is truly a Wright Brothers moment.
Launch window to Mars
• Why did Hope, Tianwen-1 and
Perseverance all arrive at
about the same time?
• Answer: Launch Window
• The launch timeline makes use
of the Hohmann transfer orbit
requiring the least energy to
rendezvous with a target
• Multiple TCM (Trajectory
Correction Maneuver) were
made to correct course
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timel
ine/cruise/
See also
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/
activity/lets-go-to-mars-calculating-
launch-windows/
Current Mars Missions
• NASA--Mars Odyssey Orbiter
• NASA—Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• NASA—Mars Maven Orbiter
• European Space Agency--Trace Gas Orbiter
• European Space Agency—Mars Express Orbiter
• India—Mangalyaan Orbiter
• UAE--Hope Orbiter
• China--Tianwen-1 Orbiter and Rover
• NASA--Perseverance Rover and Helicopter
Photo~ UAE Hope Orbiter
2021 1965 Perseverance Rover Mariner 4 Landed February 18, 2021 Closest flyby July 15, 1965 Geology based, sample collecting mission First closeup photos of another planet Primary mission to last approx. 2 Earth years Mission--8 months but lasted 3 years.
Cygnus X-1 yields new secrets. • First Black hole to be discovered. • Originally discovered by a rocket sent up in the 60’s to measure X-rays from the Moon, they instead began looking at a signal from Cygnus. • Updated measuring by the VBLA (Very Long Baseline Array) has suggested it to be 21 times the mass of our Sun instead of the original 15. • The star that orbits it every 5.6 days is now thought to be 40 X Sun mass. • Cygnus X-1 is one of the closest black holes that we can study. It is 7000 light years away. • https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/first- detected-black-hole-more-massive/
A cluster of Black
Holes at the core?
• Two scientists at the Institute of
Astrophysics of Paris were expecting to
find a super massive black hole at the
center of the NGC 6397 globular cluster.
• Instead, after analyzing data from
Hubble and the Gaia satellite, they
found instead of one massive black hole
at the center, data suggest as many as
five dozen rotating and orbiting each
other.
• NGC 6397 is only 70 light years across yet
holds thousands of stars
• Also known as Caldwell 86, it is located
in the constellation Ara (The Altar) https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-
• Ara is to the south of Scorpius and best news/planet-eating-white-dwarfs-black-hole-cluster-
farfarout/
visible in the southern hemisphere in July.Gulf Stream System
weakest in 1000 years
• Gulf Stream System acts as a giant conveyor belt
bringing warm Gulf water north and sending colder
water south, moderating climate and salinity.
• Volume of water is 100 X flow of the Amazon per sec.
• Change in heat flow to the north will mean more
severe weather in northern Europe and rising sea
levels US east coast due to earth’s rotation.
If the slowdown continues at
the present rate, the system
will weaken further by 34 to
45 per cent by 2100.
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/gulf-stream-atlantic-meridional-overturning-oscillation-weakest-in-milleniumYou can also read
