Ian
priscilla 1Upcoming NASA Missions
May 7th 2010 02:50
As reported on Network World, in NASA's recent budget they announced funding for many critical satellite and robotic missions. These missions include a huge planned mission to Mars as well as other operations that will send spacecraft to Pluto, Jupiter, Mercury, Pluto and the Sun. New climate change research and observation satellites are also heavily funded. See a sample below or read the full article here.
NASA's 6,800 pound Solar Dynamics Observatory will this month hit its orbit around the Sun and start beaming back its first photos. The $808 million spacecraft will eventually send back what NASA called a prodigious rush of pictures about sunspots, solar flares and a variety of other never-before-seen solar events. The idea is to get a better idea of how the Sun works and let scientists better forecast the space weather to offer earlier warnings to protect astronauts and satellites, NASA said.
NASA says the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continues to make progress toward a 2014 launch. The Webb telescope will be the most sensitive infrared space telescope ever built. It is designed to see the farthest galaxies in the universe and the light of the first stars; study young planetary systems; and look for conditions suitable for life on planets around other stars. The telescope will feature a large mirror, a little over 21-feet in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Key to the James Webb will be its Mid-Infrared Instrument which NASA says will be the most sensitive mid-infrared detector ever flown in space, NASA said.
Also expected to launch this year is the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project. The NPPOESS satellite will collect land, ocean, and atmospheric data to the meteorological and global climate change communities. It will provide atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud and aerosol properties.
NASA call this the biggest astrobiology mission to Mars ever. The Mars Science Laboratory should launch before Christmas this year. The Mars Science Laboratory is actually a rover that will drive around the reed planet looking for that elusive data that will tell us whether Mars ever was, or is still is capable of supporting life. The rover will carry the biggest, most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface, NASA said. The rover's onboard laboratory will study rocks, soils, and the local geologic setting in order to detect chemical building blocks of life.
Scheduled for this year, NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is expected to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the Moon. GRAIL will actually feature twin spacecraft that will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in detail. As a secondary objective, GRAIL will extend knowledge gained from the Moon to the other terrestrial planets, NASA said.
Sun spotter
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Climate Change
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Interior of the Moon
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