New Mars

In this issue of Ares Express, Graeme Skinner wishes the Mars Rovers a happy first birthday, covers the latest news concerning a number of space probes currently in operation, takes a long survey of the hottest forum threads and provides us with a comprehensive calendar of important Space and Astronomy events happening in 2005. It’s all essential reading for anyone interested in Mars!

Although I have happy events to comment upon in Ares Express 7, it would not be right to ignore the recent events in Asia. The thread in Free Chat, Tsunami in Asia has seen reports of the death toll rise from 22000 on the 27th December ‘04 when the thread was started to well over 125000 - it’s an easy number to write, but not to comprehend. I will not comment any more upon it, other than to say the news reports have left me shocked and saddened - hopefully the thread on New Mars will stay active for a while, as it will mean the events are still in people’s minds and not forgotten.

– Graeme Skinner

Mars Rover News

Spirit celebrated its first birthday on Mars this week, although the primary mission for Spirit ended eight months ago the rover keeps on going (I bet a certain battery company wishes they’d sponsored it now!) Currently Spirit is moving (though very slowly following the removal of a trapped rock) up Husband hill, they are making a series of short slow movements to get the rovers wheel clear of the rock, as they don’t wish to get the rock trapped again! The journey up the hill has proved successful in one way with the discovery of a new type of rock that is rich in phosphorus. Opportunity meanwhile is only twenty days from its first birthday on Mars. Currently Opportunity is imaging heatshield fragments in order to see what effects entry to the atmosphere and landing had upon it. Visit the mission website and the forum thread.

Probe News

It’s fingers crossed time that Deep Impact will manage to launch on the 12th January ‘05. Having had a number launch related problems the mission will be looking for an alternative target if they miss the launch window this month. Deep Impact is basically going to crash a small impactor into comet Tempel 1 to see inside the comet and discover more about what they are made of. If the launch is successful on the 12th the arrival time at comet Tempel 1 is around the 4th of July 2005. Visit the mission website and the forum thread for any further developments.

Everyone with an interest in space will have their eye trained towards Titan this month, with the Huygens probe descent scheduled for the 14th January 2005 we now just have to hope the on board timer has not stopped and revives the probe for the descent phase. The descent is expected to last around two and a half hours and data will be relayed from the probe to Cassini then back to Earth. The Cassini-Huygens thread is currently one of the most popular in the unmanned probes section, and I expect it will get much busier around the 14th.

Comet Machholz

Just in case anyone has missed the thread in Events Calendar, Comet Machholz is now in the perfect position for any astrophotographers or indeed anyone with an interest in astronomy the forum thread has charts and info on the comet. Take a look, it’s well worth it!

Forum News

Since Ares Express 6, the number of posts to New Mars has broken through the 60000 mark, and the membership has risen to 1018.

Current hot topics in Human missions are Just cancel the Shuttle Programme in which Dayton3 suggested that NASA should cancel the Shuttle now. The thread is currently on the subject of what to replace the Shuttle with (and yes, Mars Direct has been brought into the discussion). Other topics of interest in human missions sees The need for a Moon Direct is popular as ever, along with Post Central for information on CEV which is at the stage where a third thread will soon be required.

In Interplanetary Transportation, Space Elevators and Pipelines started with John Creighton discussing the mathematics behind moving gasses into space, a discussion that is still ongoing.

Interesting MOC pictures is one of the hot topics in Unmanned Probes. Other hot topics already mentioned are Spirit & Opportunity 8 and Cassini-Huygens 2. A new interesting thread in the Life on Mars forum worth checking out is More fossil-like images from Spirit: Weird rock looks like brachiopod imprint - the thread title says it all!

In Science and Technology, the New Discoveries thread continues to provide a nice range of links and information.

2005 Astronomy & Space Flight calendar

Feel free to copy and print as required. Please post any amendments or additions in the thread in ‘Articles’.

January

2nd January - Earth at perihelion
3rd January - Quadrantids maximum, Spirit 1 Year today
4th January - Jupiter 0.4 degrees North of the Moon
6th January - Saturn 7 degrees South of Pollux
7th January - Mars 3 degrees North of the Moon
9th January - Mars, Mercury, Venus & the Moon (photo time?)
10th January - Moon at perigee
11th January - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
12th January - Deep Impact spacecraft, to explore Comet Tempel 1 for NASA, on board a Boeing Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral. (launch date subject to change).
13th January - Uranus 4 degrees North of the Moon, Saturn at opposition
14th January - Huygens probe Titan descent, Mercury 0.3 degrees South of Venus
15th January - Venus 0.9 degrees South of Uranus
23rd January - Moon at apogee
24th January - Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon, Opportunity 1 Year today
26th January - Tac-Sat 1 communications satellite on board a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
27th January - Classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office in a flight staged from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
31st January - Jupiter 0.9 degrees North of the Moon

February

2nd February - Worldsat 2 telecommunications satellite onboard a Proton launcher, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
3rd February - Neptune conjunction (Sun)
5th February - Mars 4 degrees North of the Moon
7th February - Moon at perigee
14th February - Mercury in superior conjunction, Venus 1 degree South of Neptune
20th February - Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon, Moon at apogee. Classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on a Lockheed Martin Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral
25th February - Uranus in conjunction with the Sun
27th February - Jupiter 1.2 degrees North of the Moon. I-4 satellite on a Atlas 5 rocket, launching from Cape Canaveral
28th February - Progress 17 cargo ship on a Soyuz rocket to the ISS from Baikonur Cosmodrome

March

1st March - NROL-1 spacecraft to launch on a Being Delta 4 from Vandenberg Air Force Base
2nd March - DART spacecraft on board a Pegasus XL launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (launch subject to change)
6th March - Mars 5 degrees North of the Moon
8th March - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon, Moon at perigee
11th March - Mercury 3 degrees North of the Moon
19th March - Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon, Moon at apogee, The NOAA-N spacecraft to launch on a Boeing Delta 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base
25th March - European Space Agency’s Cryosat science spacecraft from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia
26th March - Jupiter 1 degree North of the Moon
29th March - Mercury inferior conjunction
31st March - Venus in superior conjunction

April

3rd April - Mars 4 degrees North of the Moon, Jupiter at opposition
4th April - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon, Moon at perigee
5th April - Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
7th April - Mercury 3 degrees North of the Moon
13th April - Mars 1.2 degrees South of Neptune
15th April - Expedition 11 to the International Space Station on board a Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft and Soyuz booster from Baikonur Cosmodrome
18th April - Lyrids maximum
22nd April - Jupiter 0.6 degrees North of the Moon
29th April - Moon at perigee

May

1st May - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
2nd May - Mars 3 degrees North of the Moon
3rd May - Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
6th May - Mercury 3 degrees South of the Moon
12th May to 3rd June - Launch window for NASA’s return to flight mission with STS-114 Discovery shuttle flight, Kennedy Space Centre in Florida
13th May - Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon
14th May - Mars 1.2 degrees South of Uranus, Moon at apogee
19th May - Jupiter 0.4 degrees North of the Moon
26th May - CloudSat and Calipso spacecraft onboard Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base Moon at perigee
28th May - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
30th May - Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
31st May - Mars 0.5 degrees North of the Moon, Saturn 7 degrees South of Pollux

June

3rd June - Mercury in superior conjunction
5th June - DMSP 17 on a Delta 4 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base
8th June - Venus 4 degrees South of the Moon
10th June - Progress 18 cargo ship on a Soyuz rocket to the ISS from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon
11th June - Moon at apogee
14th June - Pluto at opposition
16th June - Jupiter 0.4 degrees North of the Moon
21st June - Solstice
23rd June - Venus 5 degrees South of Pollux, Moon at perigee
25th June - Venus 1.3 degrees North of Saturn, Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
26th June - Mercury 1.4 degrees North of Saturn, Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
27th June - Mercury 0.08 degrees South of Venue
28th June - Moon at apogee, Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon
30th June - Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on board a Titan 4B booster, from Vandenberg Air Force Base

July

4th July - Deep Impactor to arrive at comet Tempel 1
5th July - Earth at aphelion
7th July - Mercury 1.6 degrees South of Venus
8th July - Moon at apogee, Mercury 5 degrees South of the Moon, Venus 3 degrees South of the Moon
13th July - Jupiter 0.8 degrees North of the Moon
21st July - Moon at perigee
22nd July - Neptune 4 degrees North of the Moon, Venus 1.2 degrees North of Regulus
23rd July - Saturn in conjunction with the Sun
24th July - Uranus 2 degrees North of the Moon
27th July - Navstar GPS satellite 2R M-3 satellite on a Boeing-built Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base Mars 4 degrees South of the Moon

August

1st August - Moon at apogee
6th August - Delta & Iota Aquarids maximum Mercury in inferior conjunction
8th August - Neptune at opposition, Venus 1.2 degrees South of the Moon
10th August - NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on a Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Jupiter 1.3 degrees North of the Moon
12th August - Perseids maximum
18th August - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
19th August - Moon at perigee
20th August - Uranus 2 degrees North of the Moon
25th August - Mars 6 degrees South of the Moon
31st August - Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon

September

1st September - Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on a Boeing Delta 4 booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Moon at apogee, Uranus at opposition
2nd September - Venus 1.4 degrees South of Jupiter
4th September - Mercury 1.1 degrees North of Regulus
5th September - Venus 1.8 degrees North of the Moon
7th September - Venus 0.6 degrees North of the Moon, Jupiter 1.8 degrees North of the Moon
15th September - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
16th September - Moon at perigee, Uranus 2 degrees North of the Moon
22nd September - Mars 6 degrees South of the Moon, Equinox
28th September - Moon at apogee, Saturn 5 degrees South of the Moon

October

3rd October - Annular eclipse
6th October - Mercury 1.5 degrees South of Jupiter
7th October - Venus 1.4 degrees North of the Moon
12th October - GPS satellite 2R M-4on a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
14th October - Moon at perigee, Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
19th October - Mars 5 degrees South of the Moon
20th October - Orionids maximum
22nd October - Jupiter in conjunction with the Sun
25th October - Saturn 4 degrees South of the Moon
26th October - Moon at apogee
30th October - Mars closest approach

November

3rd November - Mercury 1.3 degrees North of the Moon, Taurids Maximum
5th November - Venus 1.4 degrees North of the Moon
7th November - Mars at opposition
8th November - Neptune 5 degrees North of the Moon
10th November - Moon at perigee, Uranus 3 degrees North of the Moon
11th November - WorldView imaging satellite on a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base
15th November - Mars 3 degrees South of the Moon
17th November - Leonids maximum
22nd November - Saturn 4 degrees South of the Moon
23rd November - Moon at apogee
29th November - Jupiter 3 degrees North of the Moon

December

4th December - Venus 2 degrees North of the Moon
5th December - Moon at apogee
6th December - Neptune 4 degrees North of the Moon
7th December - Uranus 2 degrees North of the Moon
12th December - Mars 1.3 degrees South of the Moon
15th December - GPS satellite 2R M-5 on a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
16th December - Pluto in conjunction with the Sun
19th December - Saturn 4 degrees South of the Moon
21st December - Solstice, Moon at apogee
22nd December - Ursids maximum
27th December - Jupiter 4 degrees North of the Moon
30th December - Mercury 5 degrees North of the Moon

Filed under: Editorials on January 5th, 2005