[meteorite-list] A fifth Jinju meteorite (12 kg) has apparently been found
Dear list members, a fifth meteorite (12 kg) of the Jinju fall has apparently been found http://data.newdaily.co.kr/data/photos/20150520/shp_1431529301.jpg http://www.newdaily.co.kr/news/article.html?no=247699 automatic translation: http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=desl=kotl=enu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newdaily.co.kr%2Fnews%2Farticle.html%3Fno%3D247699sandbox=1 Martin __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Japanese Scientists Abandon Plan for Asteroid Flyby (Procyon)
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/05/12/japanese-scientists-abandon-plan-for-asteroid-flyby/ Japanese scientists abandon plan for asteroid flyby By Stephen Clark SpaceFlight Now May 12, 2015 An experimental suitcase-sized space probe launched as a secondary payload with Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission in December will miss an encounter with an asteroid early next year, according to Japanese scientists. The Procyon spacecraft blasted off Dec. 3, 2014, with the Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission, which aims to collect rock specimens from a carbon-rich asteroid and return them to Earth in 2020. Scientists at the University of Tokyo and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency designed the 143-pound (65-kilogram) Procyon spacecraft to fly by a different target than Hayabusa 2s destination, demonstrating that a compact probe can return valuable data millions of miles away from Earth. Officials blamed a problem with the Procyon probe's ion propulsion system, which stopped working in mid-March, according to a report published by the Mainichi Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper. Shaped like a cube roughly 2 feet (60 centimeters) across, Procyon targeted a flyby of asteroid 2000 DP107, an object spanning a half-mile (800 meters) across with its own smaller moon. But the mission ran into trouble, and ground controllers raced against a deadline to recover the spacecraft's ion engine before the end of April, when Procyon needed to adjust its trajectory to reach the asteroid 120 million miles from Earth next year. The deep space maneuver with the ion propulsion system was intended to send the spacecraft back toward Earth for a gravity assist in December. Earth's gravity would then slingshot the probe toward its target in May 2016. [Graphic] Diagram of Procyon's trajectory after launch in December 2014. The illustration shows the probe reaching an asteroid in January 2016, before scientists selected the mission's official target for a flyby in May 2016. Credit: JAXA/University of Tokyo The Mainichi Shimbun reported metallic dust is adhered to the inside of the engine, which may also have a short circuit. Attempts to remove the dust by spinning the spacecraft were unsuccessful, according to the news report. The newspaper said the University of Tokyo and JAXA developed the Procyon mission for 500 million yen - about $4.1 million. The mission's objectives were to demonstrate small spacecraft technologies for deep space exploration and collect imagery and other data during an asteroid flyby. The $240 million (28.9 billion yen) Hayabusa 2 mission is on track to reach its target - asteroid 1999 JU3 - in June 2018 for a year-and-a-half of surveys, mapping and daring touch-and-go descents to pick up rock fragments from the body's surface. The craft will also drop a quartet of landers to bounce across the asteroid to study the object up close. Hayabusa 2 will depart the asteroid in December 2019 and return to Earth in December 2020, dropping a canister with samples through the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted landing in Australia. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Research Reveals Europa's Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4586 NASA Research Reveals Europa's Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt Jet Propulsion Laboratory May 12, 2015 The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute NASA laboratory experiments suggest the dark material coating some geological features of Jupiter's moon Europa is likely sea salt from a subsurface ocean, discolored by exposure to radiation. The presence of sea salt on Europa's surface suggests the ocean is interacting with its rocky seafloor -- an important consideration in determining whether the icy moon could support life. The study is accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters and is available online. We have many questions about Europa, the most important and most difficult to answer being is there life? Research like this is important because it focuses on questions we can definitively answer, like whether or not Europa is inhabitable, said Curt Niebur, Outer Planets Program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Once we have those answers, we can tackle the bigger question about life in the ocean beneath Europa's ice shell. For more than a decade, scientists have wondered about the nature of the dark material that coats long, linear fractures and other relatively young geological features on Europa's surface. Its association with young terrains suggests the material has erupted from within Europa, but with limited data available, the material's chemical composition has remained elusive. If it's just salt from the ocean below, that would be a simple and elegant solution for what the dark, mysterious material is, said research lead Kevin Hand, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. One certainty is that Europa is bathed in radiation created by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. Electrons and ions slam into the moon's surface with the intensity of a particle accelerator. Theories proposed to explain the nature of the dark material include this radiation as a likely part of the process that creates it. Previous studies using data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft, and various telescopes, attributed the discolorations on Europa's surface to compounds containing sulfur and magnesium. While radiation-processed sulfur accounts for some of the colors on Europa, the new experiments reveal that irradiated salts could explain the color within the youngest regions of the moon's surface. To identify the dark material, Hand and his co-author Robert Carlson, also at JPL, created a simulated patch of Europa's surface in a laboratory test apparatus for testing possible candidate substances. For each material, they collected spectra -- which are like chemical fingerprints -- encoded in the light reflected by the compounds. We call it our 'Europa in a can,' Hand said. The lab setup mimics conditions on Europa's surface in terms of temperature, pressure and radiation exposure. The spectra of these materials can then be compared to those collected by spacecraft and telescopes. For this particular research, the scientists tested samples of common salt -- sodium chloride -- along with mixtures of salt and water, in their vacuum chamber at Europa's chilly surface temperature of minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 173 Celsius). They then bombarded the salty samples with an electron beam to simulate the intense radiation on the moon's surface. After a few tens of hours of exposure to this harsh environment, which corresponds to as long as a century on Europa, the salt samples, which were initially white just like table salt, turned a yellowish-brown color similar to features on the icy moon. The researchers found the color of these samples, as measured in their spectra, showed a strong resemblance to the color within fractures on Europa that were imaged by NASA's Galileo mission. This work tells us the chemical signature of radiation-baked sodium chloride is a compelling match to spacecraft data for Europa's mystery material, Hand said. Additionally, the longer the samples were exposed to radiation, the darker the resulting color. Hand thinks scientists could use this type of color variation to help determine the ages of geologic features and material ejected from any plumes that might exist on Europa. Previous telescope observations have shown tantalizing hints of the spectral features seen by the researchers in their irradiated salts. But no telescope on or near Earth can observe Europa with sufficiently high resolving power to identify the features with certainty. The researchers suggest this could be accomplished by future observations with a spacecraft visiting Europa. JPL built and managed NASA's Galileo mission for the agency's Science
[meteorite-list] New Horizons Spots Pluto's Faintest Known Moons
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150512 New Horizons Spots Pluto's Faintest Known Moons May 12, 2015 It's a complete Pluto family photo -- or at least a photo of the family members we've already met. For the first time, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has photographed Kerberos and Styx -- the smallest and faintest of Pluto's five known moons. Following the spacecraft's detection of Pluto's giant moon Charon in July 2013, and Pluto's smaller moons Hydra and Nix in July 2014 and January 2015, respectively, New Horizons is now within sight of all the known members of the Pluto system. New Horizons is now on the threshold of discovery, said mission science team member John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. If the spacecraft observes any additional moons as we get closer to Pluto, they will be worlds that no one has ever seen before. Drawing even closer to Pluto in mid-May, New Horizons will begin its first search for new moons or rings that might threaten the spacecraft on its passage through the Pluto system. The images of faint Styx and Kerberos shown here are allowing the search team to refine the techniques they will use to analyze those data, which will push the sensitivity limits even deeper. Kerberos and Styx were discovered in 2011 and 2012, respectively, by New Horizons team members using the Hubble Space Telescope. Styx, circling Pluto every 20 days between the orbits of Charon and Nix, is likely just 4 to 13 miles (approximately 7 to 21 kilometers) in diameter, and Kerberos, orbiting between Nix and Hydra with a 32-day period, is just 6 to 20 miles (approximately 10 to 30 kilometers) in diameter. Each is 20 to 30 times fainter than Nix and Hydra. [Movie] The images detecting Kerberos and Styx shown here were taken with New Horizons' most sensitive camera, the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), from April 25-May 1. Each observation consists of five 10-second exposures that have been added together to make the image in the left panel, and extensively processed to reduce the bright glare of Pluto and Charon and largely remove the dense field of background stars (center and right panels), in order to reveal the faint satellites, whose positions and orbits, along with those of the brighter moons Nix and Hydra, are given in the right panel. Detecting these tiny moons from distance of over 55 million miles is amazing, and a credit to the team that built our LORRI long-range camera and John Spencer's team of moon and ring hunters, added New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. Kerberos is visible in all of the images, though is partially obscured in the second image. Styx is not visible in the first image, only in subsequent ones; on April 25 it was obscured by electronic artifacts in the camera -- the black and white streaks extending to the right of the extremely overexposed images of Pluto and Charon in the center of the frame. These artifacts point in different directions in different images due to the varying orientation of the spacecraft. Other unlabeled features in the processed images include the imperfectly removed images of background stars and other residual artifacts. Although Styx and Kerberos are more visible in some frames than others, perhaps due to brightness fluctuations as they rotate on their axes, their identity is confirmed by their positions being exactly where they are predicted to be (in the center of the circles in the right panel). The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. SwRI leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] NASA Awards Grant to Manage 'Swarmathon' Challenge
May 13, 2015 RELEASE 15-090 NASA Awards Grant to Manage 'Swarmathon' Challenge NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has selected the University of New Mexico (UNM) for a cooperative agreement to manage the agency's Swarmathon challenge, an innovative swarm robotics competition. The university was selected from among a nationwide pool of 14 proposals after a rigorous peer review by education and technical experts. The university will receive an award totaling almost $1.8 million, paid in annual increments of $600,000 for a maximum of three years, based on the availability of funds and satisfactory performance. The goal of the Swarmathon is to foster the development of integrated hardware and software to support the work done by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington. The challenge will be held annually between 2016 and 2018. During the competition, robots will operate in concert to autonomously search for, retrieve and map resources. Eventually, robot swarms could be used on other planets, as well as on Earth, for resource exploration and use. MUREP science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) engagement awards promote STEM literacy and enhance the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and education. The goals of the program are to increase the number of NASA-focused STEM experiences that engage underrepresented groups in active learning, disseminate innovative practices and programs in STEM teaching and STEM learning, and increase the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees in NASA-related fields awarded to students from minority serving institutions. For additional Information about the solicitation, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1EurbEZ For information about NASA's education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education -end- __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Marissa's meteorite hunt - final update
G'Day Michael I've been following this. Great work but then again I wouldn't expect anything less from you You rock mate. Cheers Johnno On Wed, May 13, 2015 at 6:11 PM, Martin Goff via Meteorite-list meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com wrote: I will follow Marissa's trip with interest, good on you and others for arranging it all. Cheers Martin Martin Goff www.msg-meteorites.co.uk IMCA #3387 Sent from my mobile phone On 13 May 2015 18:05, Michael Mulgrew via Meteorite-list meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com wrote: Hello, List! I am happy to provide you all with this final update for Marissa's meteorite hunt. The next report will be pictures from the field! In one week Marissa will board a plane and begin her trip of a lifetime. She has finished her semester at school (passed all her classes!) and is getting all her gear together that has been purchased. All travel and lodging requirements have been taken care of, including trip insurance for Marissa should anything come up at the last minute. She has shared photos of her hunting gear on Club Space Rock, please click the link the check it out: http://meteorites.ning.com/forum/topics/one-week-to-go-for-marissa-s-meteorite-hunt-please-read-for-final?page=13commentId=3513451%3AComment%3A183762x=1#3513451Comment183762 In addition to her powered wheel chair we have purchased a manual bubble chair that is designed to be used on sand. If her powered chair gets bogged down during the hunt we can switch to the back-up which will be carried into the field on the roof rack of my 4x4. This chair is being shipped directly to the town in Nevada where we are staying. If any of you use twitter please be sure to follow her meteorite hunt account, https://twitter.com/mfanady. I will attempt to live tweet from the field (reception permitting), but at the very least we will send out some tweets each night when we return to the hotel. Thank you all again for your support, and here's to a successful hunt! Michael in so. Cal. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Marissa's meteorite hunt - final update
As I said before Michael, this is a good thing you do! All best to Marissa and happy hunting for her. Regards, John - Original Message - From: Michael Mulgrew via Meteorite-list meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com To: Meteorite List meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 1:04 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] Marissa's meteorite hunt - final update Hello, List! I am happy to provide you all with this final update for Marissa's meteorite hunt. The next report will be pictures from the field! In one week Marissa will board a plane and begin her trip of a lifetime. She has finished her semester at school (passed all her classes!) and is getting all her gear together that has been purchased. All travel and lodging requirements have been taken care of, including trip insurance for Marissa should anything come up at the last minute. She has shared photos of her hunting gear on Club Space Rock, please click the link the check it out: http://meteorites.ning.com/forum/topics/one-week-to-go-for-marissa-s-meteorite-hunt-please-read-for-final?page=13commentId=3513451%3AComment%3A183762x=1#3513451Comment183762 In addition to her powered wheel chair we have purchased a manual bubble chair that is designed to be used on sand. If her powered chair gets bogged down during the hunt we can switch to the back-up which will be carried into the field on the roof rack of my 4x4. This chair is being shipped directly to the town in Nevada where we are staying. If any of you use twitter please be sure to follow her meteorite hunt account, https://twitter.com/mfanady. I will attempt to live tweet from the field (reception permitting), but at the very least we will send out some tweets each night when we return to the hotel. Thank you all again for your support, and here's to a successful hunt! Michael in so. Cal. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Marissa's meteorite hunt - final update
I will follow Marissa's trip with interest, good on you and others for arranging it all. Cheers Martin Martin Goff www.msg-meteorites.co.uk IMCA #3387 Sent from my mobile phone On 13 May 2015 18:05, Michael Mulgrew via Meteorite-list meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com wrote: Hello, List! I am happy to provide you all with this final update for Marissa's meteorite hunt. The next report will be pictures from the field! In one week Marissa will board a plane and begin her trip of a lifetime. She has finished her semester at school (passed all her classes!) and is getting all her gear together that has been purchased. All travel and lodging requirements have been taken care of, including trip insurance for Marissa should anything come up at the last minute. She has shared photos of her hunting gear on Club Space Rock, please click the link the check it out: http://meteorites.ning.com/forum/topics/one-week-to-go-for-marissa-s-meteorite-hunt-please-read-for-final?page=13commentId=3513451%3AComment%3A183762x=1#3513451Comment183762 In addition to her powered wheel chair we have purchased a manual bubble chair that is designed to be used on sand. If her powered chair gets bogged down during the hunt we can switch to the back-up which will be carried into the field on the roof rack of my 4x4. This chair is being shipped directly to the town in Nevada where we are staying. If any of you use twitter please be sure to follow her meteorite hunt account, https://twitter.com/mfanady. I will attempt to live tweet from the field (reception permitting), but at the very least we will send out some tweets each night when we return to the hotel. Thank you all again for your support, and here's to a successful hunt! Michael in so. Cal. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Marissa's meteorite hunt - final update
Hello, List! I am happy to provide you all with this final update for Marissa's meteorite hunt. The next report will be pictures from the field! In one week Marissa will board a plane and begin her trip of a lifetime. She has finished her semester at school (passed all her classes!) and is getting all her gear together that has been purchased. All travel and lodging requirements have been taken care of, including trip insurance for Marissa should anything come up at the last minute. She has shared photos of her hunting gear on Club Space Rock, please click the link the check it out: http://meteorites.ning.com/forum/topics/one-week-to-go-for-marissa-s-meteorite-hunt-please-read-for-final?page=13commentId=3513451%3AComment%3A183762x=1#3513451Comment183762 In addition to her powered wheel chair we have purchased a manual bubble chair that is designed to be used on sand. If her powered chair gets bogged down during the hunt we can switch to the back-up which will be carried into the field on the roof rack of my 4x4. This chair is being shipped directly to the town in Nevada where we are staying. If any of you use twitter please be sure to follow her meteorite hunt account, https://twitter.com/mfanady. I will attempt to live tweet from the field (reception permitting), but at the very least we will send out some tweets each night when we return to the hotel. Thank you all again for your support, and here's to a successful hunt! Michael in so. Cal. __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Meteorite Picture of the Day
Today's Meteorite Picture of the Day: NWA 8384 Contributed by: James Tobin http://www.tucsonmeteorites.com/mpodmain.asp?DD=05/13/2015 __ Visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/meteoritecentral and the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com https://pairlist3.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
