Spike writes, Mon Aug 07 2000
>here we go...
>> MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
>> JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
>> CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
>> NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
>> PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
>> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
>>
>
>> NEW ASTEROID TARGET CHOSEN FOR JAPANESE-U.S. MISSION
>>
>> The MUSES-C project, a joint effort of Japan's Institute of
>> Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) and NASA to explore an
>> asteroid and return a sample to Earth, has announced that the
>> asteroid target of the project and the launch date have been
>> changed.
>
You may be interested in this follow-up message posted on sci.astro by
a planetary scientist in Hawaii.
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------------------
From:
Alex R. Blackwell <ablackwellNOabSPAM@co.honolulu.hi.us.invalid>
Newsgroups:
sci.astro, alt.sci.planetary, alt.astronomy
Date:
Wed, 02 Aug 2000 10:49:19 -0700
FWIW, from what I've been told the result of the target body
change is a direct result of the failure the ASTRO-E launch
vehicle (M-V), which is also baselined to be used on its next
scheduled launch by MUSES-CN. The redesign is taking too long
and would have resulted in missing the July 2002 window for 1989
ML, which itself was chosen over the primary (4660 Nereus)
because of decreasing spacecraft mass margins.
Additionally, I also understand that the engineering team has
recommended that the AXS (alpha/x-ray spectrometer) be dropped
from the nanorover to accomodate a battery. This battery would
provide power for telemetry, as opposed to the solar panels
(there is a distinct possibility that the nanorover might land in
darkness or local shade), which apparently makes NASA nervous
about ensuring some kind of data return in a failure mode,
especially in the wake of recent Mars spacecraft failures.
Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii
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Amara
--*************************************************************** Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1 +49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps *************************************************************** "Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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