China to launch lunar lander/rover

The Chinese Chang’e 3 lunar lander/rover combo is set to launch this Monday, December 2nd at 1:20 am local time (Sunday, 12:20 pm EST, 5:20 pm GMT) from the the Xichang space center in Sichuan province in southwestern China. It will land on the Moon on December 14th.

The  rover is named Yutu or Jade Rabbit  (see earlier post here) .

This would be the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon since the Soviet Union put the Luna 24 rover on the Moon  in 1976.

Indian probe to fire engine for Mars [Update]

The Indian  Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter spacecraft will soon begin to fire its engine for 23 minutes, which will put the probe on an earth escape trajectory that will allow it to intercept Mars on Sept. 24, 2013. The burn should start at  12.49 am IST (Sun.) or 2:19 pm EST (Sat.), 19:19 pm GMT.

[ Update: The engine firing was a success:

Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Successfully placed in Mars Transfer Trajectory

The critical manoeuvre to place India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in the Mars Transfer Trajectory was successfully carried out in the early hours of today (Sunday, December 1, 2013). During this manoeuvre, which began at 00:49 today, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about 22 minutes providing a velocity increment of 648 meters/second to the spacecraft. Following the completion of this manoeuvre, the Earth orbiting phase of the spacecraft ended. The spacecraft is now on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun.

It may be recalled that Mars Orbiter spacecraft was launched into an elliptical parking orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 248 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 23,550 km by India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV on November 5, 2013. Following this, the apogee height of the spacecraft’s orbit was successively raised through a series of manoeuvres to nearly 1,93,000 km. Besides, health checks of the Mars Orbiter spacecraft as well as its payloads were performed. Since its launch, all systems on-board Mars Orbiter spacecraft are performing normally.

The spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Byalalu.
]

Since its launch on November 5th, the spacecraft has fired its on board engine six times to enlarge its orbit around earth. It will need to fire its engine again at that time to go into orbit around the Red Planet.

Space policy roundup – Nov.30.13

A new selection of space policy/politics related items

ISON – The die hard comet

Evidence is growing that a part of the Comet ISON nucleus did in fact survive its close solar experience (see previous posting). Here is a report from NASA:

Comet ISON May Have Survived

Continuing a history of surprising behavior, material from Comet ISON appeared on the other side of the sun on the evening on Nov. 28, 2013, despite not having been seen in observations during its closest approach to the sun.

This movie shows Comet ISON orbiting around the sun – represented by the white
circle — on Nov. 28, 2013. ISON looks smaller as it streams away, but scientists
believe its nucleus may still be intact. The video covers Nov. 27, 2013, 3:30 p.m. ET
to Nov. 29, 2013, 8:30 a.m. ET. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/Jhelioviewer

As ISON appeared to dim and fizzle in several observatories and later could not be seen at all by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory or by ground based solar observatories, many scientists believed it had disintegrated completely. However, a streak of bright material streaming away from the sun appeared in the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory later in the evening. The question remains whether it is merely debris from the comet, or if some portion of the comet’s nucleus survived, but late-night analysis from scientists with NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign suggest that there is at least a small nucleus intact.

Three view of what's left of Comet ISON rounding the sun.
ISON appears as a white smear heading up and away from the sun. ISON was
not visible during its closest approach to the sun, so many scientists thought
it had disintegrated, but images like this one from the ESA/NASA Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory suggest that a small nucleus may be intact.
Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/GSFC
Continuing a history of surprising behavior, material from Comet ISON appeared on the other side of the sun on the evening on Nov. 28, 2013, despite not having been seen in observations during its closest approach to the sun.

As ISON appeared to dim and fizzle in several observatories and later could not be seen at all by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory or by ground based solar observatories, many scientists believed it had disintegrated completely. However, a streak of bright material streaming away from the sun appeared in the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory later in the evening. The question remains whether it is merely debris from the comet, or if some portion of the comet’s nucleus survived, but late-night analysis from scientists with NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign suggest that there is at least a small nucleus intact.

A bright ISON goes into the sun, a dim ISON comes out.
Another view from SOHO’s C2 chronograph shows Comet ISON appearing
bright as it streams toward the sun (right). it can be seen as a dim streak
heading upward and out in the left image. The comet may still be intact.
Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/Jhelioviewer

Throughout the year that researchers have watched Comet ISON – and especially during its final approach to the sun – the comet brightened and dimmed in unexpected ways.  Such brightness changes usually occur in response to material boiling off the comet, and different material will do so at different temperatures thus providing clues as to what the comet is made of.  Analyzing this pattern will help scientists understand the composition of ISON, which contains material assembled during the very formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago.

Related Links:

For more information on Comet ISON: www.nasa.gov/ison

To download recent ISON imagery: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/CometISON.html

The Europa Underground on Planetary Radio

The latest episode of Planetary Radio at The Planetary Society discusses the efforts (e.g. europa.seti.org) to  promote missions to the Jupiter moon Europa: