NGST: Post-Hubble in Trouble?

Space.com; Dec. 14, 2000; Science/Astronomy: "Can Hubble's Replacement Succeed?"

NGST concept - NASA

The $1-billion Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is an international program to construct a Hubble Space Telescope replacement.  This larger, more sophisticated, instrument will further the evolutionary study of  the Universe by examining distant light that originated less than a billion years after the Big Bang.  In a bold move NASA will position the observatory at the Sun-Earth L-2 (Libration-2) point: "downwind" from the Sun and 1.5-million km from Earth.  Libration points are where the gravitational forces of two celestial bodies cancel out; satellite situated there would need minimal fuel to hold position.  This is bold because the distance will make servicing impossible, but minimize bright-object interference (by keeping the Sun, Earth, and Moon on the "backside" of the telescope), fuel use, and loss of solar panel power caused by Earth's shadow.   

But cost and technology problems have brought about a reexamination of many parts of the mission in order to keep to budget and schedule.  NEXUS has been canceled and the NGST mirror will be a smaller one of 5-to-7-meters diameter.  One proposal is to orbit NGST on a space shuttle and check-out the telescope in low orbit before sending it onto L-2.  Bernard Seery, the NGST project manager at NASA-Goddard, states: "People call it de-scope or re-scope. But what I actually perceive us doing is a re-optimization of all the parameters."  According to Seery loss in some areas are offset by gains in other areas; NGST is really being optimized for a new "Sweet Spot." 

They're Here?

United Press International; Nov. 22, 2000; Wire Service Story: “Scientists Report 'Alien' Life”

The UPI wire service last month carried an intriguing report, based on a story in London's Daily Mail, of possible "alien bacteria" living high in Earth's atmosphere.  This species of bacteria was found trapped in a special filter of a balloon lofted 10-miles in the air by the Indian Space Research Organization.  According to Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, a researcher at Cardiff University, the bacteria is of an unknown strain unlike anything on Earth. 

Prof. Chandra Wickramashinge, who champions the theory that comets and asteroids may be spreading the seeds of life throughout space, suggests that either the bacteria was originally Earth-based and lifted into the atmosphere where it mutated, or the first comet-deposited alien life has been discovered.  Wickramashinge offers that life existed on Earth 4-billion years ago: a time when comets and meteors were bombarding the planet and possibly seeding it with life.  

While samples of the bacteria are under study at Cardiff other scientists caution not to jump to conclusions.  The comet-seeding theory, called "panspermia," was put forth by Wickramasinghe and astronomer Fred Hoyle two decades ago and is not universally accepted. 

They're There?

Cosmiverse.com; Dec. 1, 2000; Space News: "Lights Glow on Moon"

Langrenus arrowed. NASA.

Langrenus (white area right of center) from above. NASA Apollo 8 photo.

Controversial reports of "Transient Lunar Phenomenon" (TLP) have been circulating for years.  

Attention has faded since the time of the Apollo Moon Landing program, when even first-man-on-the-Moon Neil Armstrong was asked to look-out for them.  TLPs usually manifest as glowing "clouds" that appear to emanate from lunar craters.  They were once thought to be proof of ongoing lunar volcanism, but this theory has been discounted and sightings are often dismissed as illusion. 

The BBC News recently reported that astronomer Audouin Dollfus, of the Observatoire de Paris, has reached conclusions regarding his December 30, 1992 sighting of glowing clouds inside the crater Langrenus on the edge of Mare Fecunditatis.  His original observations were that the glows changed and were observed for a few days after the initial sighting date. 

The French astronomer believes that gas escaping from fractures on the floor of the crater was lifting lunar dust into the sunlight.  This created the "glowing cloud" effect observed.  He contends that detailed images of Langrenus reveal an extensive series of factures on its floor through which gas could escape. 

Hubble: Cassini No Trouble

University of Michigan; Dec. 14, 2000; Press Release: "Uncovering the Mysteries of Jupiter's Aurora"

Jupiter aurora -- NASA

The Cassini Saturn-bound spacecraft is making measurements of the solar wind, in the vicinity of Jupiter, as it gets a gravity assist from the giant planet.  Simultaneously the Hubble Space Telescope is imaging Jupiter's aurora.  Together these cooperative measurements will help in revealing interaction between the stream of magnetic particles ejected by the Sun and the resulting aurora on Jupiter.

The observing run began on December 14th.  Cassini will be 10-million km at its closest to Jupiter on December 30th and the Earth orbiting Hubble will be over 600-million km away.  In January Cassini will image the night-side aurora on Jupiter while Hubble continues imaging the day-side.  Researchers at the University of Michigan College of Engineering will examine the Cassini solar wind data -- velocity, temperature, pressure, density and magnetic field direction -- along with the Hubble images, and publish their findings next year. 

Earth's and Jupiter's aurora are both influenced by the solar wind, but the giant planet's version is more complex 1000-times more energetic.  This is due to Jupiter's intense magnetic field and the presence of charged particles spewed from volcanoes on the Jovian moon Io.