PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT bessel@europa.com WITH ANY QUESTIONS COMMENTS OR CRITICISMS YOU MAY HAVE REGARDING THIS SITE.

SAM KIMPTON

FIRST "LANDING" ON AN ASTEROID! NEAR SHOEMAKER DOES IT! AT 15:01:52 EST THE NEAR SHOEMAKER SPACECRAFT SUCCESFULLY EXECUTED THE FIRST CONTROLLED DESCENT TO AN ASTEROID IN HISTORY. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP TOWARDS SUBSEQUENT MISSIONS TO HARNESS RESOURCES ON THESE BODIES AND ALSO HAS IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR IMPACT MITIGATION. IN ADDTION THE MANEUVER PROVIDED AN OPPORTUNITY TO IMAGE DETAILS ON THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET AS SMALL AS ONE CENTIMETER. SUCH HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES HAVE RAISED QUESTIONS REGARDING THE PROCESSES AFFECTING THE ASTEROIDS SURFACE. THE IMAGE AT LOWER LEFT IS THE LAST TO BE TRANSMITTED FROM THE SPACECRAFT. IT WAS INTEGRATED AT AN ALTITUDE OF 120 METERS. THE BLURRING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE IMAGE WS CAUSED BY A LOSS OF SIGNAL AS NEAR'S ANTENNA ROTATED UPON CONTACT WITH THE SURFACE. THE SPACECRAFT THRUSTERS WERE STILL BURNING AT THIS TIME. PROJECT ENGINEERS CONFIRM AQUISITIN OF A 10 BIT/SEC DATA STREAM FROM THE SPACECRAFT'S LOW GAIN ANTENNA. THE LANDING WAS A SOFT ONE OCCURING AT A VERTICAL VELOCITY OF 1.2-1.8 M/SEC AND A TRANSVERSE VELOCITY (RELATIVE TO THE SURFACE) OF 0.2 TO 0.4 M/SEC. THE LANDING SITE IS ESTIMATED TO BE ONLY 200 METERS FROM THE PROJECTED LOCATION. DEVELOPING FOR MORE INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THIS HISTORIC EVENT ACCESS THE NEAR SHOEMAKER MISSION PAGE AT http://near.jhuapl.edu.

NEAR SHOEMAKER MISSION EXTENDED THE NEAR SHOEMAKER MISSION HAS BEEN EXTENDED FOR A PERIOD UP TO TEN DAYS. DURING THIS TIME THE SPACECRAFT'S X-RAY/GAMMA RAY SPECTROMETER IS GATHERING DATA PERTAINING TO THE REGOLITH OF 433 EROS. THE XGRS (SHOWN AT RIGHT) IS CAPABLE OF RESOLVING DETAILS OF THE ASTEROID SURFACE AT DEPTHS UP TO 10 CM. IT IS HOPED THAT ELEMENTAL AND MINERALOGICAL ABUNDANCES IN THE BODIES SOIL WILL BE BETTER CONSTRAINED. ONE TARGET OF THE PROBE: TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF VOLOTILES IN THE SOIL. THE DEPLETION OF SUCH CONSTITUENTS MIGHT BE A FACTOR IN EXPLAINING SUBSIDENCE FEATURES ON THE SURFACE. THIS IS JUST ONE OF MANY ASTROGEOLOGICAL PUZZLES RAISED BY THE MISSION RETURNS.

ESTIMATED OORT CLOUD POPULATION REDUCED IN A PAPER PUBLISHED IN THE 1 FEBRUARY ISSUE OF NATURE PAUL WEISMAN AND ALAN STERN REPORT THEIR FINDINGS THAT THE POPULATION OF OORT CLOUD OBJECTS IS PROBABLY LESS THAN HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED, PERHAPS BY A FACTOR OF TEN. THE REDUCTION, BASED ON THE THEORY THAT THE OORT CLOUD IS THE RESULT OF ACRETION OF SMALL BODIES IN THE REGION BEYOND THE ORBIT OF PLUTO, IS ATRIBUTED TO THE REDISTRIBUTION OF BODIES ACCORDING TO SIZE BY IMPACT COMMINUTION. ACCORDING TO THE RESEARCHERS POPULATION DENSITY IN THE OORT CLOUD WAS SO DENSE THAT NO BODY IN THE REGION OF THE GAS GIANTS SMALLER THAN 20 KM COULD HAVE SURVIVED. THE OORT CLOUD IS THOUGHT TO BE A SOURCE REGION FOR COMETS.

ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN MISSION SLATED FOR LAUNCH IN DECEMBER 2002 ISAS, THE JAPANESE SPACE AGENCY, WILL LAUNCH THE FIRST ATTEMPTED ASTEROID SAMPLE RETURN MISSION IN DECEMBER 2002 FROM THE KAGOSHIMA SPACE CENTER IN JAPAN. THE MUSES-CN SPACECRAFT WILL GATHER DATA PERTAINING TO THE MASS, DENSITY, ROTATION, SHAPE, AND POSIBLE MAGNETIC FIELD, AS WELL AS ITS SURFACE COMPOSITION AND PROCESSES OF THE POTENTIALLY HAZZARDOUS ASTEROID 1998 SF36. THE SPACECRAFT CONSISTING OF AN ORBITER, A NANOROVER DESIGNED AND SUPPLIED BY NASA CALLED THE SSV, AND A HOPPING ROBOT MADE IN JAPAN NAMED MINERVA WILL BE DEPLOYED TO THE ASTEROID BY MEANS OF THE M-V VEHICLE'S ELECTRONIC ION PROPULSION ENGINE. ONCE IN ORBIT AROUND THE ASTEROID THE SPACECRAFT WILL DETERMINE THE NATURE OF ITS ROTATION AND MAP ITS SURFACE IN ORDER TO SELECT A TOUCHDOWN SITE AND DEVELOP AN APROACH STRATEGY. THE SPACECRAFT WILL THEN EXECUTE A CAREFULLY CONTROLLED DESCENT TO THE SURFACE OF THE BODY, COLLECT UP TO THREE 3-10 GRAM SAMPLES FROM IT, AND RETURN THE PRECIOUS MATERIAL TO EARTH BY MEANS OF A SAMPLE RETURN CAPSULE. THE ENTIRE PROCESS IS EXACERBATED BY THE FACT THAT 1989ML'S ROTATION AND TOPOGRAPHY ARE POORLY CONSTRAINED. FURTHERMORE THE STRENGTH OF THE GRAVETATIONAL FIELD OF THE BODY IS ONLY A VERY TINY FRACTION OF EARTH'S WITH A VERY LOW ESCAPE VELOCITY. THE SPACECRAFT WILL MORE PROPERLY RENDEVOUS, PERFOM A DOCKING MANEUVER WILL THE ASTEROID, CAPTURE (OR ANCHOR) ITS SURFACE AND COLLECT THE SAMPLE BY "CHEWING" ON IT. IN THE WORDS OF ONE ISAS OFFICIAL THE ENTIRE PROCESS WILL BE CONDUCTED VERY SLOWLY, METHODICALLY, AND CAREFULLY. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE MUSES-CN MISSION PLEASE SEE http://www.muses-c.isas.ac.jp/.

NEAR EARTH ASTEROID TRACKING SURVEY TO USE 48 INCH OSCHIN SCHMIDT CAMERA AT MOUNT PALOMAR NASA JPL'S NEAR EARTH ASTEROID TRACKING SURVEY IS TRANSITIONING FROM THEIR CURRENT OBSERVING LOCATION AT IN HAWAII TO THE 48 INCH OSCHIN TELESCOPE AT MOUNT PALOMAR. THE OSCHIN SCHMIDT CAMERA IS THE LARGEST INSTRUMENT OF ITS TYPE.

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BY USING THE LINKED BANNER ABOVE YOU MAY ACCESS THE NORTHWEST ASTRONOMY GROUP'S WEBPAGE. I CURRENTLY SERVE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THIS ORGANIZATION AND AM ALSO INVOLVED IN THE DESIGN OF THE 0.61 METER, 24-INCH, HAMMIL TELESCOPE. THIS INSTRUMENT, A CASSEGRAIN RELFLECTOR, WILL BE USED TO PERFORM FOLLOW UP POSITIONAL ASTROMETRY OF NEAR EARTH OBJECTS AS PART OF A NETWORK WITH LARGER SURVEY INSTRUMENTS AND AS A DISCOVERY SURVEY PLATFORM FOR THESE BODIES. ASSEMBLY OF THE TELESCOPE TRUSS IS NEARING COMPLETION. TO VIEW A DRAWING OF THE TELESCOPES MIRROR CELL PLEASE SEE http://www.nwag.portland.or.us/Astro/wproj.htm. ANOTHER INFORMAL WEBSITE FEATURING INFORMATION ABOUT THE VERNONIA PEAK OBSERVATORY, ITS INSTRUMENTS, AND RECENT OBSERVATIONS MAY BE ACCESSED AT http://www.nwastronomygroup.org.