Space Forum / Space Science / May 2005

Does anyone know a website that describes the delta-V benefits of
"perigee burns" well?
I'm interested in finding out if there's any use escaping Mars' gravity
from Deimos by using a perigee burn low over Mars, or if it'd just be

I was stargazing tonight in Holland and at 1:50 AM GMT I suddenly saw a
bright star,
near Deneb el Okab (Aquila) with at least the magnitude of Jupiter (-2
to -4). While thinking: "Can't be Jupiter" it suddenly dropped to Mag. +6,

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
May 23-27, 2005
o Meridiani (Released 23 May 2005)
 http://themis.la.asu.edu/zoom-20050523a.html

-> Pluto might be about 3 billion miles from Earth, but it seems a little
-> closer for the team leading NASA's proposed first mission to the "last
-> planet."
Is it time to start thinking of a mission to Sedna?

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html
SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Drives to 'Larry's Outcrop' - sol 483-489,
May 20, 2005
Spirit finished work at the target "Reef." Over the weekend (May 14 and

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/May05/r052305
Clues to planet formation revealed
University of Michigan News Service
May 23, 2005

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May05/selfrep.ws.html
Simple but seminal: Cornell researchers build a robot that can
reproduce
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, May 11, 2005, 1 P.M. EDT

-> The experiments also found a drastic drop in solar
-> irradiance levels when Venus transited between the Earth and
-> Sun in June 2004.  The decrease was equivalent to all the
-> energy used by humans in 2003.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-080
Guy Webster/JPL (818) 354-6278
Michael Ravine (858) 552-2650, ext. 500
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego

Is anyone aware of there being electrons detected moving towards the
Sun, from any source?
The Solar Wind contains electrons (and protons) moving away from Sun.
But even some of these electrons might collide with particles and

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/May05/marsmystery.htm
NATURE STUDY EXPLAINS MYSTERY OF MARS ICECAPS
Oregon State University News & Communication Services
May 11, 2005

Thanks people. You've been a big help.

If at some future time evidence of biological presence on Mars is ever
discovered (e.g. bacteria), how will scientists be sure it's not just
contamination from previous Earthcraft that landed there?
Surely NASA doesn't claim that it's probes etc are guaranteed sterile when

Cassini Significant Events
for 04/28/05 - 05/04/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday from the
Madrid