Dead Spacecraft Walking

Just when we had forgotten about the Moon.
Will it make the evening News?
- LRK -
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NASA Science News for Oct. 27, 2010
A pair of NASA spacecraft that were supposed to be dead a year ago are instead flying to the Moon for a breakthrough mission in lunar orbit.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/27oct_artemis/
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Oct. 27, 2010:  A pair of NASA spacecraft that were supposed to be dead last year are instead flying to the Moon for a breakthrough mission in lunar orbit.

"Their real names are THEMIS P1 and P2, but I call them 'dead spacecraft walking,'" says Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA, principal investigator of the THEMIS mission. "Not long ago they appeared to be doomed, but now they are beginning an incredible new adventure."

The story begins in 2007 when NASA launched a fleet of five spacecraft into Earth's magnetosphere to study the physics of geomagnetic storms. Collectively, they were called THEMIS, short for "Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms." P1 and P2 were the outermost members of the quintet.

Working together, the probes quickly discovered a cornucopia of previously unknown phenomena such as colliding auroras, magnetic spacequakes, and plasma bullets shooting up and down Earth’s magnetic tail. This has allowed researchers to solve several longstanding mysteries of the Northern Lights.


The mission was going splendidly, except for one thing: Occasionally, P1 and P2 would pass through the shadow of Earth. The solar powered spacecraft were designed to go without sunlight for as much as three hours at a time, so a small amount of shadowing was no problem. But as the mission wore on, their orbits evolved and by 2009 the pair was spending as much as 8 hours a day in the dark.

"The two spacecraft were running out of power and freezing to death," says Angelopoulos. "We had to do something to save them."

The team brainstormed a solution. Because the mission had gone so well, the spacecraft still had an ample supply of fuel--enough to go to the Moon. "We could do some great science from lunar orbit," he says. NASA approved the trip and in late 2009, P1 and P2 headed away from the shadows of Earth.

With a new destination, the mission needed a new name. The team selected ARTEMIS, the Greek goddess of the Moon. It also stands for "Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun."

The first big events of the ARTEMIS mission are underway now. On August 25, 2010, ARTEMIS-P1 reached the L2 Lagrange point on the far side of the Moon. Following close behind, ARTEMIS-P2 entered the opposite L1 Lagrange point on Oct. 22nd. Lagrange points are places where the gravity of Earth and Moon balance, creating a sort of gravitational parking spot for spacecraft.
snip

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
[Check out the whole article and the graphics - LRK - ]
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This should be an interesting mission extension and give us a better idea of what we would be in for if we were to set up camp at Lunar L1 and L2.
Wouldn't want a refueling station to get zapped by solar storms or magnetic fields a snapping.
- LRK -

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. . .
"We are particularly hoping to catch some magnetic reconnection events," says Sibeck. "These are explosions in Earth's magnetotail that mimic solar flares--albeit on a much smaller scale." ARTEMIS might even see giant 'plasmoids' accelerated by the explosions hitting the Moon during magnetic storms.
. . .
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My oh my, maybe we wouldn't be in Kansas.
- LRK -

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
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-- Moon Express Enters the $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=31944

"Moon Express Inc., a privately funded lunar transportation and data services company,
announced its official entry into the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a $30 million competition that
challenges space professionals and engineers from across the globe to build and launch to the
Moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of completing a series of exploration and
transmission tasks. Team MoonEx, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is among 24 teams from
a dozen countries that are competing for their share of the $30 million prize purse."


-- Robonaut 2 Prepared for Shuttle Trip to International Space Station
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=31943

"Robonaut 2, better known as R2, is packed and ready to blast into outer space next week aboard
the space shuttle Discovery for his first real work assignment at the International Space Station
(ISS). R2 is the product of an advanced robotics partnership between NASA and General Motors
that began in 2007."

-- Countdown to Comet Flyby Down to Nine Days
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=31942

"NASA's EPOXI mission continues to close in on its target, comet Hartley 2, at a rate of 12.5
kilometers (7.8 miles) per second. On Nov. 4 at about 10:01 a.m. EDT (7:01 a.m. PDT) the
spacecraft will make its closest approach to the comet at a distance of about 700 kilometers (434
miles). It will be the fifth time that a comet has been imaged close-up and the first time in
history that two comets have been imaged with the same instruments and same spatial
resolution."

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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