Space Mission Scrapbook

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Space Mission Scrapbook

• By
• Michael Martoccio

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WIND
Launch Date November 1, 1994 Arrival Date at
Target 1998 Countries and Agencies Involved
NASA (but France and Russia added instruments)
Source http//www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/w
wind.html (The Wind Spacecraft Website) Orbit
Trajectory to Target After its launch by a Delta
II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, WIND
was put into a figure-eight orbit around the
Earth with the assistance of the moon's
gravitational field. The furthest point from the
Earth on the orbit was 250 Earth radii and the
closest point to Earth was 4.5 Earth radii.
Later, WIND was inserted into a small circular
orbit in the solar wind upstream from the Earth
around the point where the gravity of the Earth
and the Sun are balanced (Approximately 990,000
miles or 1,6000,000 kilometers from the Earth).
Important Science Discoveries WIND was designed
to measure properties of the solar wind before it
reaches the Earth. By doing so it was able to
measure the mass, momentum and energy of the
solar wind and increase scientists knowledge of
the Sun.
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General Narrative WIND was part of an
international project known as International
Solar-Terrestrial Physics Initiative (ISTP).
Using probes from not only NASA, but also Japan
and Russia, the ISTP hoped to gain more knowledge
about the Suns complex processes. In 1998, the
project was ended, but the knowledge gained by
WIND and other probes was invaluable. Also, WIND
had a change of plans in 1998. When the solar
observatory SOHO was placed in a similar orbit,
WIND was moved to a complicated orbit which
allows it to sample different parts of space
around Earth. Spacecraft Design and Instruments
WIND has a variety of instruments to study the
Sun. Some of the instruments aboard WIND measure
properties of the solar wind plasma and the
proportions of various ions in the solar wind.
WIND also uses radio wave receivers to monitor
emissions from the Sun and from space plasmas,
and a magnetometer samples the interplanetary
magnetic field (IMF) up to 44 times a second. It
also carries two gamma ray detectors, to observe
and time gamma ray bursts from distant space.
Fate of the Mission Although its not used as
much as before, WIND is still in use and is still
providing valuable information about the Sun. It
still carries a large reserve of fuel for its
rocket engine, so it should remain useful for
years to come.
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Mariner 10
Launch Date November 3, 1973 Arrival Date at
Target March 29, 1974 Countries and Agencies
Involved NASA Source http//nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
/nmc/tmp/1973-085A.html (NSSDC Master Catalog
Spacecraft) Orbit Trajectory to Target Mariner
10 was a flyby mission. It used the gravitation
of Venus to investigate Venus and slingshot it to
Mercury, which was its ultimate goal. Above is an
image of that trajectory. Important Science
Discoveries Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft
to study Mercury. It took in-depth photos of the
surface and determined that the atmosphere of
Mercury is extremely small. It also determined
that Mercury has a small magnetic field and a
relatively large iron-rich core. On its flyby of
Venus, it determined that Venus had a weak
magnetic field and studied the circulation of
Venus atmosphere.
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General Narrative Mariner 10 was the first
spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of one
planet (Venus) to reach another (Mercury).
Mariner 10 was the first and only spacecraft to
visit Mercury. The primary scientific objectives
of the mission were to measure Mercury's
environment, atmosphere, surface, and body
characteristics and to make similar
investigations of Venus and to obtain experience
with a dual-planet gravity-assist mission. The
mission cost roughly 100 million to design and
launch. Spacecraft Design and Instruments
Mariner had scientific equipment on it to measure
Mercury and Venus magnet fields, atmosphere, and
to take in-depth photographs of the surface.
Experiments included television photography,
magnetic field, plasma, infrared radiometry,
ultraviolet spectroscopy, and radio science
detectors. Fate of Mission The goal of Mariner
10 was to investigate the surface of Mercury.
After three successful flybys, Mariner 10 ran out
of attitude-control gas and in March, 1975 the
mission was abandoned.
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Magellan
Launch Date May 4, 1989 Arrival Date at Target
August 10, 1990 Countries and Agencies Involved
NASA Sourcehttp//nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/
magellan.html (NSSDC Master Catalog
Spacecraft) Orbit Trajectory to Target Magellan
was an orbiter. After it was launched from the
space shuttle, it was put into a near polar
elliptical orbit over Venus. Important
Scientific Discoveries Magellan was able to
successfully map most of the surface of Venus.
With this information, the land forms and
tectonics, impact processes, erosion, deposition,
chemical processes, and model the interior of
Venus was able to be determined. Magellan showed
that Venus had no plate tectonics and at least
85 of the surface is covered with volcanic
flows. It also showed scientists that Venus has
very little erosion so its surface might be
millions of years old.
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General Narrative The primary objectives of the
Magellan mission were to map the surface of Venus
with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and to
determine the topographic relief of the planet.
At the completion of radar mapping, 98 of the
surface was imaged at resolutions better than 100
m, and many areas were imaged multiple times. An
example of one of those images is seen to the
left. Spacecraft Design and Instruments
Because Venus has such think clouds, conventional
photography was impossible. Therefore, Magellan
used SAR to take radar images of the surface.
This unbelievable system used radar to map the
surface. A total of 4225 usable SAR imaging
orbits was obtained by Magellan. It also had
instruments on it to measure the gravity of
Venus. Fate of the Mission After five years in
space, the spacecraft lost contact on October 12,
1994 when it crashed into Venus. It most likely
burned up in the think Venusian atmosphere.
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Viking 1
Launch Date August 20, 1975 Arrival Date at
Target June 19, 1976 Countries and Agencies
Involved NASA Sourcehttp//nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/p
lanetary/viking.html (NSSDC Master Catalog
Spacecraft) Orbit Trajectory to Target After a
ten month cruise to Mars, the orbiter was set
into orbit and the lander was launched on June
19, 1976. Important Scientific Discoveries The
Viking 1 mission as with the Viking 2 mission
were very important in establishing that life did
not exist on the surface of Mars. Viking 1 was
also very important in its mapping of Mars and
the information that was gained about its
atmosphere and soil content.
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General Narrative The first month of orbit was
devoted to imaging the surface to find
appropriate landing sites for the Viking Lander.
On July 20, 1976, the Viking 1 Lander separated
from the Orbiter and touched down at Chryse
Planitia. Once on the surface, the lander
conducted three experiments to determine if life
existed on Mars. Although some chemicals were
discovered, life was not. Another interesting
aspect of the Viking 1 mission was that only a
few months later an identical spacecraft, Viking
2, was launched. Spacecraft Design and
Instruments Viking 1 was essentially two
spacecraft in one an orbiter and a lander. The
orbiter had equipment on it to take detailed
surface photos of Mars. More importantly, the
lander had equipment to study the physical and
magnetic properties of the soil and analyze the
atmosphere and weather patterns of Mars. It also
had equipment to determine if life existed on
Mars. Fate of Mission After it landed on the
surface and completed its mission, Viking 1
Lander ended communication on November 13, 1982.
After over 1400 orbits, the Viking 1 Orbiter was
powered down on August 17, 1980.
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Galileo
Launch Date October 18, 1989 Arrival Date at
Target December 1995 Countries and Agencies
Involved NASA Source http//www.jpl.nasa.gov/gal
ileo/ (Galileo Project Homepage) Orbit Trajectory
to Target The orbit trajectory of Galileo
started when it was launched from the space
shuttle Atlantis. After a flyby of Venus and
Earth twice and passing through the asteroid belt
twice, Galileo finally made it to Jupiter. Once
there, Galileo established orbit and dropped its
probe in December of 1995. Important Scientific
Discoveries Galileo and its probe discovered an
unbelievable amount of information about Jupiter
and its moons. It discovered on Jupiter itself an
intense new radiation belt approximately 50,000
km above Jupiter's cloud tops, Jovian wind speeds
in excess of 600 kilometers per hour, a Helium
abundance in Jupiter that is nearly the same as
in the Sun (24 compared to 25), and far less
water in Jupiters atmosphere then originally
thought. It also discovered on the moons of
Jupiter, extensive resurfacing of Io's surface
due to continuing volcanic activity since the
Voyagers flew by in 1979, suggested magnetic
fields for both Io and Ganymede, and evidence for
liquid water ocean under Europa's surface. Also,
on its trip out to Jupiter it confirmation the
existence of a huge ancient impact basin in the
southern part of the Moon's far side, evidence of
more extensive lunar volcanism than previously
thought and it discovered a satellite (Dactyl) of
an asteroid (Ida).
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General Narrative Apart from being by far one of
the most successful spacecraft of NASAs
existence, Galileo was also able to record the
first images of a comet impact on a planet. When
the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter,
Galileo was able to record the actual impacts of
the comet and collect information from the
planet. Also, although it was originally intended
to only last till 1997, Galileo continued to be
in use up until recently. Spacecraft Design and
Instruments Galileo consisted of two parts an
orbiter and a probe. Apart from having equipment
to take in-depth photos and atmospheric readouts,
the orbiter used a duel spin design. One
section of the spacecraft rotated at 3rpm. On
this section, six instruments rapidly gathered
data from many different directions. The other
section of the spacecraft held steady for the
four instruments that must point accurately while
Galileo is flying through space. The probe also
was invaluable in its investigation of the
atmosphere. It used six instruments plus its
radio to investigate Jupiter's mysterious
atmosphere. Fate of Mission The Galileo
spacecraft's 14-year odyssey came to an end on
Sunday, Sept. 21, when the spacecraft passed into
Jupiter's shadow then disintegrated in the
planet's dense atmosphere at 1157 a.m. Pacific
Daylight Time.
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Cassini
Launch Date October 15, 1997 Arrival Date at
Target July 1, 2004 Countries and Agencies
Involved NASA, ESA (European Space Agency),
Italian Space Agency. Sourcehttp//saturn.jpl.na
sa.gov/index.cfm (Official Cassini-Huygens
Homepage) Orbit Trajectory to Target In 1998
and 1999, Cassini passed by Venus twice and Earth
once and in 2000 it passed by Jupiter. These
flybys allowed the spacecraft to slingshot its
way to the outer reaches of the galaxy so it
could arrive at Saturn and establish an orbit.
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Important Scientific Discoveries It will study
charged particles near Saturn, Saturns electric
and magnetic field, the composition of Saturns
rings, and the composition of Saturns
atmosphere. It will also be able to map the
surface of Titan using radar and study the
surface with its lander. Finally, it will take
unbelievably detailed pictures of many objects
orbiting Saturn. General Narrative The Cassini
spacecraft was designed to study Saturn and its
moons. It consists of two parts, the orbiter and
the lander named Huygens. Once established in
orbit, Cassini will begin to study Saturn to a
depth never before thought possible. In December
2004, the spacecraft will launch the second part
of Cassini a probe named Huygens. Huygens will
be dropped onto the moon Titan and hopefully land
to study all sorts of data about the moon. Fate
of Mission All told, the Cassini mission will
make 74 orbits around Saturn and 44 close flybys
of the moon Titan over a four year span. In 2008
it will most likely be terminated, but hopefully,
like Galileo, it will serve for a longer time.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments As said
before, Cassini consists of two parts an orbiter
and a lander. The orbiter has equipment on it to
study a variety of Saturns atmosphere, magnetic
field, moons and rings. Also, the Italian Space
Agency developed the advanced communication
antenna that will allow Cassini to transmit all
of its data back to Earth. It will also be able
to map the surface of Titan using radar. The
Huygens probe, which was developed by the ESA
(European Space Agency) also has some amazing
equipment. It contains instruments to take
images, study atmospheric content, temperature,
pressure, radiation and has a devise that will
study the surface composition of Titan.
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Voyager 2
Launch Date August 20, 1977 Arrival Date at
Target Ongoing Countries and Agencies Involved
NASA Sourcehttp//voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
(Official Voyager Website) Orbit Trajectory to
Target Voyager 2 took advantage of a rare
once-every-189-years alignment to slingshot its
way from outer planet to outer planet. Voyager 2
was launched before Voyager 1 by a Titan-Centaur
rocket, and flew by Jupiter on August 7, 1979, by
Saturn on August 26, 1981, by Uranus on January
24, 1986, and by Neptune on August 8, 1989. By
doing so, it was able to gain more scientific
information then ever thought possible. It is
still in space and is about 90 AU away from the
Sun.
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Important Scientific Discoveries Voyager 2 gave
invaluable information about the 4 giant planets,
their satellites, and their rings. Voyager 2
discovered that Jupiter has complicated
atmospheric dynamics like lightning and aurorae.
It also discovered three new satellites, rings
around Jupiter and that Io has active sulfurous
volcanoes. At Saturn, it discovered over 1000
ringlets and 7 satellites. Its information on
Uranus and Neptune was also very important. It
discovered that Uranus has 10 satellites and one
more ring was discovered. Neptune was found to
have rather active weather, including numerous
cloud features. Two other rings and 6 other
satellites were discovered. Also, new information
was discovered about the atmosphere of Triton, a
moon of Neptune. General Narrative Apart from
all its other amazing aspects, Voyager 2 carries
with it an interesting message. It has a
phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper
disk intended to communicate a story of our world
to extraterrestrials. This disk contains sounds
and images selected to portray the diversity of
life and culture on Earth. The contents of the
record were selected for NASA by a committee
chaired by Carl Sagan. Dr. Sagan and his
committee assembled 115 images and a variety of
natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind
and thunder, birds, whales, and spoken greetings
from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and
printed messages from President Carter and U.N.
Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is
encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together
with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in
symbolic language, explain the origin of the
spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be
played.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments Voyager 2 is
identical to its brother Voyager 1. The
spacecraft uses a three-axis stabilized system.
This system uses celestial or gyro referenced
attitude control to maintain pointing of the
high-gain antennas toward Earth. The spacecraft
consists of 10 instruments. These include cameras
for in-depth photography and plasma, cosmic ray,
ultraviolet, infrared, radio, and magnetic field
detectors. Most of these instruments are still
running. Fate of Mission Voyager 2 is still
flying in space for more then 25 years. It will
most likely stay operational until 2020 when the
spacecraft will run out of power and will no
longer be able to run its scientific instruments.

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SIM
Launch Date 2009 Arrival Date at Target
2009 Countries and Agencies Involved NASA
Sourcehttp//planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/SIM/sim_in
dex.html (Official SIM Homepage) Orbit Even
though SIM has not been launched yet, its orbit
can be somewhat assessed. From the end of the
calibration period through the year 2011, the SIM
interferometer will perform nearly continuous
science observations over the entire celestial
sphere. It will most likely be in orbit for this
entire time around Earth, but changes may be made
as this project develops. Important Scientific
Discoveries Once SIM is deployed, it will
determine the distances to stars throughout the
galaxy. It will also be able to probe nearby
stars for Earth-sized planets. It will study
nebula, star forming regions, and other gigantic
space anomalies. It will be able to determine the
positions and distances of stars several hundred
times more accurately than any previous program.
Hopefully, all this information will expand the
knowledge about the cosmos.
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General Narrative The way in which SIM will take
unbelievably detailed photographs of the universe
is through interferometry. Interferometry works
by taking advantage of the fact that light
behaves like waves on an ocean. Humans see our
surroundings because our eyes receive waves of
different wavelengths or frequencies and
translate them into different colors. By
combining these different wavelengths,
interferometry can determine the light from far
away stars. To achieve maximum efficiency, SIM
will be launched into space so that it wont have
to deal with the atmospheric distortion of Earth.
Out in space, SIM will be able to combine light
from multiple telescopes as if they were pieces
of a single telescope. It does this by taking
separate pieces of light and combining them into
one image. This image will be in unbelievably
high detail and will give scientists a much more
detailed view of space objects.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments SIM will have
unbelievably advanced technology to collect light
from its multiple telescopes. Pointing of the
spacecraft will be performed using reaction
wheels. Pointing will be performed such that the
nominal viewing axis never be within 45 degrees
of the Sun to protect the viewing optics from
heating. The spacecraft's velocity will need to
be determined to an accuracy of 20 mm/sec or
better in order to correct for relativistic
stellar aberration. This will be achieved using
ranging and doppler data obtained by 34m Deep
Space Network (DNS) ground stations. Observation
data will be stored onboard, and returned to
Earth several times each week. These are only
preliminary designs, changes most likely will be
made as SIM goes into deeper development. Fate
of Mission Although this is difficult to
determine, the lifespan of SIM is said to be
about two years. Hopefully, like earlier
spacecraft, it will be able to last much longer.
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Chandra
Launch Date July 23, 1999 Arrival at Target
July 23, 1999 (it circles Earth) Countries and
Agencies Involved NASA Source
http//chandra.harvard.edu/ (The Chandra X-ray
Observatory). Orbit After being deployed by the
space shuttle Colombia, Chandra was put in an
elliptical orbit around the Earth. Its orbit is
not on the same elliptical plane as Earth. The
spacecraft spends 85 of its orbit above the
belts of charged particles that surround the
Earth. Chandra's unusual orbit was achieved after
deployment by a built-in propulsion system which
boosted the observatory to a high Earth orbit.
The orbit takes it more than a third of the way
to the moon before returning to its closest
approach to the Earth of 16,000 kilometers. The
time to complete an orbit is 64 hours and 18
minutes. Important Scientific Discoveries
Chandra takes x-ray images of far away space
objects. By using x-rays, Chandra is able to
observe amazing space anomalies like nebula and
star forming regions in unbelievable detail. With
this information, Scientists can study the
universe with more detail then ever before
thought possible.
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General Narrative Chandra uses its x-ray
telescope to take pictures that are far more
detailed then were ever possible before. As an
example the image on the left is from the High
Resolution Imager on the Rontgen satellite, the
observatory with the best imaging capability
before Chandra. The image on the right, taken by
Chandra, has approximately fifty times better
resolution than the one on the left. In the
Chandra image, new details-rings and jets in the
region around the pulsar provide valuable
information for understanding the space anomaly.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments Chandra is
not really a spacecraft it is more like a space
observatory. The Observatory has three major
parts. First, and most importantly, there is the
X-ray telescope. This telescope uses mirrors to
focus x-rays from celestial objects so images can
be taken. Also, Chandra has science instruments
which record the x-rays. These instruments are
used so that x-ray images can be produced and
analyzed. Finally, the spacecraft provides the
environment necessary for the telescope and the
instruments to work. Fate of Mission Chandra is
still in use and will hopefully stay so for the
next decade. It currently has no shutdown or
power down date.
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SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility)
Launch Date August 25, 2003 Arrival at Target
Countries and Agencies Involved NASA Source
http//sirtf.caltech.edu/index.shtml (Official
SIRTF Website) Orbit The orbit of SIRTF is an
interesting one. After its launched into space by
a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, it drifted
away from Earth at a rate of about 0.1 AU a year.
This allows SIRTF to simply drift behind Earth as
it circles the Sun. The drifting heliocentric
orbit places SIRTF in deep space, where the
temperatures are about 30 to 40 K. By using
nature to assist in cooling, it can carry much
less liquid helium cryogen than it would need in
an Earth orbit. Important Scientific
Discoveries SIRTFs highly sensitive instruments
give a unique view of the universe and allows
scientists to peer into regions of space which
are hidden from optical telescopes. This occurs
because many areas of space are filled with vast
clouds of gas and dust which block regular
telescopes. SIRTF can penetrate these clouds
using infrared light. This allows scientists to
look into regions of star formation, the centers
of galaxies, and into newly forming planetary
systems. Also, SIRTF provides information about
cooler objects in space, such as smaller stars
which are too dim to be detected by their visible
light, extrasolar planets, and giant molecular
clouds.
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General Narrative SIRTF is the largest infrared
telescope ever launched into space. SIRTF will be
the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories
Program, which send into space four telescopes to
measure visible, gamma, x-ray and infrared light.
Other missions in this program include the Hubble
Space Telescope, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory,
and Chandra. SIRTF is also a part of NASA's
Astronomical Search for Origins Program designed
to provide information which will help scientists
understand Earths cosmic roots, and how
galaxies, stars and planets develop and form.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments SIRTF is not
so much a spacecraft, but an observatory.
Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three
cryogenically-cooled science instruments, SIRTF
can take pictures in the infrared that are
amazingly detailed. The telescope is surrounded
by an outer shell that radiates heat, and is
shielded from the Sun by solar panels. The outer
shell and inner, middle, and outer shields are
cooled by helium vapor. An example of one of the
pictures taken by the infrared telescope is to
the left. This picture shows how the infrared
telescope on SIRTF can take pictures of immense
detail in the infrared. Fate of Mission SIRTF
is scheduled for a two and a half year long
mission. At the end of this period, it will most
likely remain in use, but in a more limited
manner.
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JWST (James Webb Space Telescope)
Launch Date 2011 Arrival at Target2011 Countri
es and Agencies Involved NASA Source
http//www.jwst.nasa.gov/ (Official NASA
Site) Orbit Once JWST is launched into space
using a Ariane 5 Rocket, it will most likely
establish an orbit around the Earth at about 1.5
million km from Earth. At this distance, JWST can
be cold enough to operate without excessive
coolant. Important Scientific Discoveries JWST
will be able to study the universe to a degree
never before possible. It will study in the
infrared in much higher detail than any
spacecraft before it. By observing in the
infrared, JWST will be able to expand scientists
knowledge of all types of space anomalies from
nebula to the birth of stars and planetary
systems similar to Earths. Also by using JWST,
scientists hope to get a better understanding of
dark matter and the shape of the universe .
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General Narrative JWST will take the place of
the Hubble Space Telescope at the end of this
decade. It will study the universe at the
important but previously unobserved epoch of
galaxy formation. By studying the universe so far
in the past, JWST will reveal information about
the creation of the universe. The JWST is also a
key element in NASA's Origins Program whose goal
is to discover the origin of the universe. Also,
JWST will cost in-excess of 824.8 million.
Spacecraft Design and Instruments JWST will
have many innovations on it that will make it the
most advanced telescope ever. It will be
constructed using extremely light weight mirrors.
This will cut down on costs because the cost of
launching satellites is determined by their
weight and lighter mirrors will mean decreased
launch costs. The primary mirror for JWST will
not have the luxury of being massive and
retaining its perfect optical shape through
material stiffness. The quality of the reflective
surface will be computer controlled and this will
give higher quality and sharper images. Also,
JWST is expected to operate at 30-100 Kelvin, so
it needs a large amount of coolant. The infrared
telescope will be take photographs in
unbelievable detail and an artists concept of it
is to the right.  
Fate of Mission Although there is very little
information about this, the theory is that JWST
will last for five to ten years.
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