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An X-mas present for my readers: a (kind of) Master Index
of all headlines since Update #101 (under construction, but you get the idea) -
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100 000 galaxies at a glance: ESO's Wide Field Imager at work!
A collection of pictures from this 67-mio. pixel camera at the La Silla 2.2 m telescope.
The "millennial" full moon on Dec. 22 is not of outstanding record brightness,
as many (even NASA!) think: S&T + Houston Chron., Fla.Today, SF Chron., CSM
and NYT stories. Still, NASA's animated GIF of the lunar phases + libration is great!
The coming solar maximum will only be average and not as wild as some fear:
L&CC Press Release and NASA Science News; coverage by Space.com.
Update # 164 of December 22nd, 1999, at 19:15 UTC
The first HST EVA has begun!As usual, the astronauts couldn't wait - and why should they? Steve Smith and John Grunsfeld switched their spacesuits to internal battery power (that's when an EVA 'officially' begins) at 18:54 UTC today for their 7-hour 'spacewalk', as both Fla. Today's Mission Journal and Spaceflight Now's Mission Status Center report. 10 minutes later the astronauts were in the cargo bay; the first hour is spent with preparation, then the real work begins.Hubble snatched, first EVA today!Everything is going according to plan: Already at 0:34 UTC today astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy was able to grab the Hubble Space Telescope with Discovery's robot arm and to position it securely in the payload bay. A visual inspection of the telescope showed that telescope appeared to be in same condition as it was in February 1997, the last time the shuttle visited Hubble: "no serious or glaring problems" were evident to the eye. Today's first EVA - now set to begin already at 19:20 UTC - is the most important event of the whole mission as Hubble will then be fitted with new gyros. A telescope with enough working gyroscopes is the minimum success requirement (see Update # 161 2nd story) of the Servicing Mission 3A.Discovery goes after Hubble: Launch at the last opportunity!Incredible but true: space shuttle Discovery was launch one day after the 'drop dead' deadline that NASA insisted on just days ago and is now hunting for the Hubble Space Telescope, to perform an abridged Servicing Mission ("SM 3A") with just 3 spacewalks. The mission began with a flawless night launch at 0:50 UTC on December 20th, and the first highlight will be the capture of Hubble on 0:41 UTC on December 22nd: As the satellite is reported to be in a steady attitude, no complications are expected. The 3 EVAs are then on Dec. 22nd, 23rd and 24th (starting at 19:40 and twice 19:50 UTC), the satellite is to be redeployed on the 25th at 23:03 UTC, and Discovery is to return to the KSC at 22:24 UTC on the 27th. The chances of landing at Edwards instead are about 1 in 100. |
Mission Status Center from Spaceflight Now, official Status Reports from various NASA sources, and a Mission Journal from Fla. Today. Astronaut Grunsfeld reports live from orbit on this special site from S&T! And e-mails from Jean-Francois Clervoy can be read at Space.com. And no, you cannot send an e-mail to the astronauts! :-) Detailled previews from Space.com, Fla. Today and ESA. Pictures from the launch, Hubble's capture and the satellite in the payload bay: pictures 1, 2 and 3. Continuing mission coverage of Dec. 22nd: CNN, AP, Space.com, Fla. Today, SpaceViews, NYT, RP, SPIEGEL. Of Dec. 21st: SpaceViews, CNN, Fla. Today, BBC, Space.com, AP. Of Dec. 20th: Space.com, CNN, BBC, ABC, RP, SpaceViews, SPIEGEL, Space Daily. Of earlier on the same day: Fla. Today, CNN, AP, space.com. Of Dec. 19th: Fla. Today. And another press release from ESA Science News. In other (not so) manned space news: The Zvezda ISS module won't launch until next April, Russian officials fear, because the investigation of October's Proton accident hasn't produced any results yet. And before there isn't an answer, modifications have been made and at least 2 other payloads been launched, the expensive - and crucial - ISS module cannot fly! (Space News of Dec. 20th, 1999) A recent planning sequence still lists the Zvezda launch for March 10th, 2000. |
Taurus launches 2 satellites, cremated remainsA Taurus rocket successfully launched two scientific satellites as well as the cremated remains of three dozen people early on December 21st:
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OSC Press Release on the Taurus launch. Homepages of ACRIMSAT, KOMPSAT and Celestis. 'Live' report from Spaceflight Now. Coverage from Space.com, RP and SpaceViews. Pre-launch coverage from Space.com. |
Terra's antenna works againThe high-gain antenna on NASA's Earth Observing System satellite Terra has resumed tracking the crucial TDRSS communications satellites, ending fears that a problem might mar the mission's otherwise picture-perfect launch and first few days in orbit. "It was some sort of transient event," Mark Hess, a spokesman from NASA's GSFC, has told Space.com.High Gain Antenna on Terra stops trackingThe high-gain antenna on Terra stopped tracking on Dec. 19th, just one day after launch, while the satellite was in the initial stages of activation and testing. The spacecraft otherwise remains in perfect health and in communication with Earth via its omnidirectional antenna and through ground tracking - so far this is considered only a minor delay for the 90-day activation sequence. The problem - that NASA doesn't consider serious - could have been caused by the South Atlantic Anomaly. Terra uses the TDRSS communications satellites as its main link with the Earth - otherwise it would be impossible to downlink up to 850 Gbyte per day of science data! |
Homepage. Coverage by Space.com: antenna broken and working again. Terra news from CBS. |
Geminids reached ZHR of 135The Geminid meteors reached a (comparatively) large maximum with a Zenithal Hourly Rate of 130-140 at around 15:00 UTC on December 14th, according to the first IMO analysis posted Dec. 19th. The ZHR was close to 100 for nearly the whole day: IMO News page.Observatory helicopter hit the cable car wire!The helicopter that crashed near the Plateau de Bure radio observatory in the French alps on Dec. 15th (see last update) had collided with the wire of the very observatory cable car that was closed after the July 1st accident. According to our sources, the 5 people on board (all of which have been found by now; none had survived) belonged to the cable car company and had just left the observatory after an inspection. The site director was to be on the same helicopter but had decided to stay at the last moment. The observatory has now been evacuated and closed down...Galileo mission extended to May 2000?A German news agency reports that NASA is funding an extended extended mission for the veteran Jupiter orbiter: RP. The current Galileo Europa Mission ends Dec. 31st, and the JPL Galileo Mission page is "presently under construction"... |
XMM now in operational orbitThe X-ray space telescope has reached its operational orbit - 7365 x 113774 km, inclination 38.9 degrees - less than a week after being launched from Kourou on 10 December: ESA Science News, coverage from SpaceViews, Space.com.A scientific paper with Chandra data (on Cas A) is to appear in a journal - they shed light on how silicon, iron, and other elements were produced in supernova explosions: Press Release, NASA Science News. Iridium woes intensify as Motorola pulls outMotorola will stop funding the maintenance and operations of the Iridium satellite fleet vby Feb. 15th, 2000 - if the company (under chapter 11 bankcruptcy protection since August) can't find new investors by then, it might be forced to close. (Space News of Dec. 20th, 1999)MPL: The search begins...Pictures illustrating the difficulty of finding the lander with the help of MGS' camera: PhotoJournal and an ABC story. A long analysis of the MPL disaster: parts 1, 2 and 3. Mars losses spark anger and opportunity: Space.com. And a long analysis in German can be found here!
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
The U.S. site of this Cosmic Mirror has been visited
since it was issued (the German site has no counter).
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to dfischer@astro.uni-bonn.de!), Skyweek