Thursday, November 4, 2010
1st flyby
The spacecraft will now get a five minute LOS..as they swap out transmitters to move to a high gain antenna.
AOS in five minutes.. 199 images sent down..live at 4 pm today
AOS in five minutes.. 199 images sent down..live at 4 pm today
Five things to know
1. High Fives - This is the fifth time humans will see a comet close-up, and the Deep Impact spacecraft flew by Earth for its fifth time on Sunday, June 27, 2010.
2. Eco-friendly Spacecraft: Recycle, Reuse, Record - The EPOXI mission is recycling the Deep Impact spacecraft, whose probe intentionally collided with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, revealing, for the first time, the inner material of a comet. The spacecraft is now approaching a second comet rendezvous, a close encounter with Hartley 2 on Nov. 4. The spacecraft is reusing the same trio of instruments used during Deep Impact: two telescopes with digital imagers to record the encounter, and an infrared spectrometer.
3. Small, Mighty and Square-Dancing in Space - Although comet Hartley 2 is smaller than Tempel 1, the previous comet visited by Deep Impact, it is much more active. In fact, amateur skywatchers may be able to see Hartley 2 in a dark sky with binoculars or a small telescope. Engineers specifically designed the mighty Deep Impact spacecraft to point a camera at Tempel 1 while its antenna was directed at Earth. This flyby of comet Hartley 2 does not provide the same luxury. It cannot both photograph the comet and talk with mission controllers on Earth. Engineers have instead programmed Deep Impact to dance the do-si-do. The spacecraft will spend the week leading up to closest approach swinging back and forth between imaging the comet and beaming images back to Earth.
4. Storytelling Comets - Comets are an important aspect of studying how the solar system formed and Earth evolved. Comets are leftover building blocks of solar system formation, and are believed to have seeded an early Earth with water and organic compounds. The more we know about these celestial bodies, the more we can learn about Earth and the solar system.
5. What's in a Name? - EPOXI is a hybrid acronym binding two science investigations: the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI). The spacecraft keeps its original name of Deep Impact, while the mission is called EPOXI.
2. Eco-friendly Spacecraft: Recycle, Reuse, Record - The EPOXI mission is recycling the Deep Impact spacecraft, whose probe intentionally collided with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, revealing, for the first time, the inner material of a comet. The spacecraft is now approaching a second comet rendezvous, a close encounter with Hartley 2 on Nov. 4. The spacecraft is reusing the same trio of instruments used during Deep Impact: two telescopes with digital imagers to record the encounter, and an infrared spectrometer.
3. Small, Mighty and Square-Dancing in Space - Although comet Hartley 2 is smaller than Tempel 1, the previous comet visited by Deep Impact, it is much more active. In fact, amateur skywatchers may be able to see Hartley 2 in a dark sky with binoculars or a small telescope. Engineers specifically designed the mighty Deep Impact spacecraft to point a camera at Tempel 1 while its antenna was directed at Earth. This flyby of comet Hartley 2 does not provide the same luxury. It cannot both photograph the comet and talk with mission controllers on Earth. Engineers have instead programmed Deep Impact to dance the do-si-do. The spacecraft will spend the week leading up to closest approach swinging back and forth between imaging the comet and beaming images back to Earth.
4. Storytelling Comets - Comets are an important aspect of studying how the solar system formed and Earth evolved. Comets are leftover building blocks of solar system formation, and are believed to have seeded an early Earth with water and organic compounds. The more we know about these celestial bodies, the more we can learn about Earth and the solar system.
5. What's in a Name? - EPOXI is a hybrid acronym binding two science investigations: the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI). The spacecraft keeps its original name of Deep Impact, while the mission is called EPOXI.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Epoxi mission
Comet 103P/ Hartley 2 passed within 11 million miles of the Earth last month, with NASA's EPOXI spacecraft in hot pursuit. The flyby — at a scorching 27,000 mph — is set for 9:50 a.m., with live coverage on NASA TV. (www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/)
Scientists with the Maryland-led mission say cameras aboard the spacecraft began running continuously 18 hours before EPOXI's close encounter with Hartley 2.
They should have the first close-up images of the comet downloaded from the spacecraft and posted on the EPOXI website epoxi.umd.edu within a few hours of the flyby. A live press briefing with more photos is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, also on NASA TV
Scientists with the Maryland-led mission say cameras aboard the spacecraft began running continuously 18 hours before EPOXI's close encounter with Hartley 2.
They should have the first close-up images of the comet downloaded from the spacecraft and posted on the EPOXI website epoxi.umd.edu within a few hours of the flyby. A live press briefing with more photos is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, also on NASA TV
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
You can also
Use the Pandora gadget to create your own New Years Eve radio station..Your the PD and DJ.
or try this site for some help.
or try this site for some help.
News Years Eve around the world
It starts at 5 am est on an Island in the South Pacific and ends the next day also in the South Pacific around 5 am. Go to this website and print out this page.
Time is presented to you in UTC, what the military calls Zulu time or the Brit's call GMT. 1000 UTC is 5 am EST.
Gadgets on the blog can be used for live tv feeds. Check them by country as it gets closer to the New Year in that particular region.
You will need a good list for live radio here are a few.
Listen to the station you want about 20 minutes before the start of the New Year in that country.
Most of the time you will hear something going on.
You can comment on what you hear and I'll post the best comments.
Have fun and good luck
Time is presented to you in UTC, what the military calls Zulu time or the Brit's call GMT. 1000 UTC is 5 am EST.
Gadgets on the blog can be used for live tv feeds. Check them by country as it gets closer to the New Year in that particular region.
You will need a good list for live radio here are a few.
Listen to the station you want about 20 minutes before the start of the New Year in that country.
Most of the time you will hear something going on.
You can comment on what you hear and I'll post the best comments.
Have fun and good luck
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