Mariner 10

     Mariner-10 was an American spacecraft launched on 3 November 1973 for a close flyby of planet Venus and Mercury. It was planned to measure the environment, atmosphere and surface of Mars. It was also aimed to perform gravity assist experiments between Mercury and Venus. Mariner-10 was designed under Bruce.C.Murray in Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Total duration of the mission is 1 Year, 4 Months and 12 Days.

Launch:

     Mariner-10 was carried by Atlas-Centaur  on 3 November 1973 at 12:45 UTC from SLC-36B launch pad. It injected Mariner-10 spacecraft into parking orbit, on the way to Venus the spacecraft separated from rocket. At first its camera were tested to take photograph of Earth and its moons. The spacecraft was tracked by Canopus Star. It also observed the Comet Kohoutek on 21 January 1974. It took 3 months to reach Venus.

Instruments Carried:

• Television Camera
• Infrared Radiometer
• Ultraviolet Spectrometer
• Plasma Detectors
• Charged particle Telescopes
• Magnetometer
• Celestial Mechanics
• Radio Science Experiment 

Television Camera:

The total weight of Television Camera is 43.6 kilograms. It consumed 67 watt of power from battery. The Camera only consumed more energy as compared to other five instruments. The camera system mounted in the spacecraft returned 7000 Photographs of Mercury and Venus during its mission of Mariner-10 flyby's.

Infrared Spectrometer:

 Infrared Spectrometer was used to detect the infrared radiation radiated by the surface of Mercury and Venus. By using this spectrometer the temperature of both planet surface was calculated. It also had a pair of Cassegrain telescopes and a detector made of Antimony-Bismuth thermopiles to measure as cold as -193 degree to 427 degree Celsius.

Ultraviolet Spectrometer:

UV-Spectrometer were involved in the measurement of UV absorption and UV emissions. It also calculated whether the solar radiation was absorbed at certain wavelengths which would indicate the presence of various gases in atmosphere.

Plasma Detectors:

The Plasma experiment was to detect and study the ionized gases of Sun's Solar wind and its temperature, density of electrons and to study how the planet was affected by solar plasma stream. By using this detector Mariner-10 collected first In Situ solar wind data from inside planet Venus.

Charged Particle Telescope:

The prime aim of this instrument is to observe the cosmic radiation interacted with heliosphere of Venus. It connected with plasma detectors and magnetometers to find some Magnetic fields of planet Mercury and Venus.

Magnetometers:

Magnetometer studied and analyzed the inter-planetary magnetic field of both planets during its flyby's. 

Celestial Mechanics and Radio Science Experiment:

This experiment was designed to investigate the mass and gravitational characteristics of Mercury. It was of particular interest, because of the planet is very close to the Sun.

Venus Flyby:

The spacecraft crossed planet Venus on 5 February 1974 at 17:01 UTC. It became 12th Spacecraft to reach Venus and Eighth to return data to Earth. Mariner-10 was programmed based on the data from Mariner-5 observations. Mariner-10 after reaching Venus it returned 4,165 useful photographs with lots of scientific information, atmospheric composition, geological features, Volcanoes, mountains,cloud features, creators etc..

The gravity assist experiment was also success on 5 February 1974. This changed the shape of spacecraft's elliptical orbit around the Sun. Image shown in left side is the processed clear image of Venus taken by Mariner-10 Spacecraft.

First Mercury Flyby:

 Image Shows the processed image of Mercury by Mariner-10 spacecraft. Mariner-10 became the first mercury flyby. The first Mercury encounter took place on 29 March 1974 at 20:47 UTC. It flew Mercury for three times one on 21 September 1974 and another on 16 March 1975. After engineering tests on 24 March 1975, radio signal transmission ceased due to the depletion of nitrogen supply.So it was decommissioned on 24 MArch 1975. Since its launch it elapsed 1 year, 4 months and 12 days.

Discoveries:

• Mariner-10 discovered evidence of rotating clouds and very weak magnetic field  
• Using Ultraviolet filter, it found Venus Chevron clouds
• It took 2,800 photographs of Mercury and revealed the Moon like surface on Mercury.
• It discovered that atmosphere of Mercury mostly consist of Helium
• It also detected some magnetic field and large iron-rich core.
• Radiometer readings suggest that its night time temperature is -183 degree and daytime is 187 degree Celsius. 

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Magnificent view of the Universe

     Hubble Space Telescope, when launched it became a hope for many scientific observations for the Astronomers. From its day of launch it had made millions of observations and discoveries. On its 27th Anniversary it showed a magnificent view of the Universe. The last end of the galaxy is NGC 4302 and the spiral galaxy is NGC 4298. But the pinwheel galaxy is quite different, because they angled in different positions in the Universe and they are very similar in structure and course.

Hubble Space Telescope is collaborative mission between NASA and ESA, from beginning it had made millions of observations since its launch.

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Geostationary Satellite GSAT-19 Indian Communication Satellite

     GSAT-19 satellite was launched from Second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikotta. It was carried by GSLV-Mark-III-D1 on 05 June 2017.

 GSAT-19 satellite is a communication satellite of India, it was launched with a mass of 3136kg configured with ISRO's Standard I-3K bus.

GSAT-19 carries Ka/Ku band-width throughout the communication transpoders. It also carried Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to monitor the charged particle and the influence of space radiation on orbiting satellites and their electronic components. GSAT also features certain advanced spacecraft technologies including miniaturised heat pipe, fibre optic gyro, Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer, Ku bandwidth transpoder and well indegenous Lithium-ion Battery.

GSLV-Mark-III-D1 at Liftup Stage India

 

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Planet Kepler 22b lie in Habitable Zone

Kepler-22b Habitable Planet

     NASA's Kepler Mission has confirmed a Earth like Planet Kepler22b in Habitable Zone. Kepler has discovered more than 1000 planets. But out of these thousand planet 10 planets are Earth sized and orbit in Habitable Zone. 

Kepler-22b is small and similar to our Earth which lie in the Habitable zone from its Star like our Sun. The planet is about 2.4 times larger than Earth in radius. Kepler had discovered 150,000 brighter stars for the search of planets. 

Kepler science team use ground-based space telescopes and Spitzer Space Telescopes to image the observations. It also observes the constellation Cygnus and Lyra to find planets around brightest stars. Kepler-22b is 600 light-years away from our Earth and it orbit around the star in 290 days. The star is G-Type of star.

Of 54 Habitable planets discovered by Kepler team, Kepler 22b is the first confirmed habitable planet. Kepler had discovered 2,236 planets, of these 207 are earth-sized planets, 680 are larger than Earth, 1,181 are Neptune sized planet, 203 are Jupiter sized planet and 55 are larger than Jupiter. For More Information NASA's Kepler Mission

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Einstein's Theory of Relativity to Measure Mass of a White Dwarf

Stein 2015B : Hubble Space Telescope Images

     Astronomers used Einstein's old general theory of relativity to measure the mass of white dwarf by its light.

In 1915 Einstein's general theory of relativity explains the wrap space and its gravity. Astronomers use this effect to measure the position and mass of distant galaxies. Hubble observed a tiny dwarf called Stein 2015B which pass in front of the star. Using its images from Hubble scientists calculated that the white dwarf is 68 percent of our Sun's mass. Astronomers measured the deflected light and found that the white dwarf is 400 times brighter than the background star. Stein 2015B is 17 light years away from Earth and it is 2.7 billion years old. The background star is 5000 light years away.

References: Stein 2015B Hubble Space Telescope

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Symbiotic Star Spotted in Chandra-X Ray

     Astronomers spotted a symbiotic star ( Symbiotic = two organisms live together with interactions). One of the best symbiotic star is known as R Aquarii which is located at a distance of 710 light years away from the Earth. First it was noticed with naked eye almost thousand years ago with its changes in brightness characteristics. R Aquarii consists of two stars one red and white. NASA's Astronomers are gaining better understanding about these stars with the images from Chandra-X Ray Observatory and other telescopes. They are trying to understand the close stellar relationship between this two stars.

In few billion years, our Sun will turn into a red giant and will exhaust hydrogen fuel from its outer surface and become a cool dwarf. Its pulse rate and periods will be 10 to 1000 days, but R Aquarii is similar to Star Mir, and its pulse rate is 250.The white dwarf has the surface temperature 20,000k and the red dwarf has 3000k. Astronomers predict that the outer ring of the star may be formed due to an supernova explosion in 1073. 

The release of energy from this star will blows off the outer layer by an asymmetric supernova explosion and it will move with a velocity of ten million miles per hour.Chandra-X Ray was launched in 1999, after its launch it began its observation on R Aquarii.

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/R Montez et al, Optical Adam Block/Mt. Lemmon Skycenter, Arizona. Read more from Chandra-X Ray Observatory.

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NASA Finds a Planet Kelt-9b

   NASA finds a planet named KELT-9b revolving around the Star KELT-9 is evaporating its material like a comet. This planet was discovered by Ohio state university. This is the brightest gas giant star ever discovered and 300 million years older. The planet Kelt-9b is 2.8 times larger than the planet Jupiter. It revolving around the star and evaporates its material like a planet. Scientist predict that the planet would have larger radius and have been decreased due the evaporating ability. This Blue type star whose temperature is around 4600 Kelvin. It is one of the major discovery like the past TRAPPIST-1 system. Scientists saw this planet through NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope. Eventually James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018 and it contributed a little to this discoveries.

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Ultraviolet Spectrometer

Ultraviolet Spectrometer

      Ultraviolet Spectrometer uses ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy to analyse metal ions, organic compounds and biological macro-molecules. These analysis is carried out in solution state only not in solid or gas state. It absorbs the light in the visible range which directly makes a change in colour of chemicals. In the visible region atoms, molecules and electromagnetic spectrum undergo electronic transitions. Fluorescence spectroscopy deals with transition from excited to ground state and absorption transition from ground to excited state.

Principle of Spectrometer:

      Molecules containing pi-electrons can observe energy in the form of visible light to excite electrons from low to high anti-bonding molecular orbitals.

Simple Principle of UV-Spectrometer

Applications:

• It has wide applications in the field of colouring metal solutions
• It is used in spacecrafts as payload to detect organic compounds in space for search of life.
• It detects organic water-soluble compounds, ethanol and biological compounds. 

NOTABLE SPACECRAFTS FOR THIS PAYLOAD: 

• Voyager-1
• Viking-1 Lander
• Curiosity Rover
• Mariner-6
• Mariner-7
• Mariner-9
• Mars Express
• Beagle-2 Lander
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter etc...

SOME PHOTOS OF UV-SPECTROMETER:

 

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Successful Launch of South Asia Satellite GSAT-09 India

GSLV-F09 / GSAT-09

     Indian Space Research Organisation launches GSLV-F09 a 2230 kg  South Asia Satellite known as GSAT-09 into Geostationary Transfer Orbit. This GSLV is our Eleventh flight of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and its fourth stage with indigenous cryogenic upper stage (CUS). This vehicle is designed to transfer or inject 2-2.5 ton of Satellites into GTO.GSLV-F09 was launched from second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota - the space port of India.

     GSLV-F09 configuration was similar to previous three launches of ISRO such as GSLV-D5 in January 2014, GSLV-D6 in August 2015, GSLV-F05 in September 2016 respectively.GSLV-D5 successfully placed communication satellite GSAT-14 and GSLV-D6 successfully placed another communication satellite GSAT-6 whereas GSLV-F05 successfully placed Indian Weather Satellite INSAT-3DR into GTO. S-band telemetry and C-band transponders enabled GSLV-F09 performance such as monitoring, tracking the vehicle, range safety, flight safety and Preliminary Orbit Determination (POD).    

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Viking 1 Orbiter

NASA's Viking Program consists of Viking-1 and Viking-2. Of these Viking-1 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to land on Mars. It Successfully landed on Mars on 20 July 1976. It occupies the second longest operated mission on Mars. The first place was occupied by Opportunity Rover which landed on 19 Mars 2010.Viking-1 Spacecraft carried a Orbiter and a Lander. The Viking-1 Lander performed Biological Experiment on the surface of Mars.

 START OF MISSION:

    Viking-1 Orbiter with Lander was carried by Titan IIIE/Centaur Rocket on 20 August 1975 at  11:53:06 UTC. Viking-1 after placed into its trajectory path to Mars, it traveled a period of 10 months and beamed back images of Mars Five days before its orbital insertion. Viking-1 Orbiter was successfully inserted into Martian Orbit on 19 July 1976. After orbital insertion Viking-1 Lander separated from orbiter at 08:51 UTC and performed successful landing on Mars at 11:53:06 UTC. This became the first lander to land on Mars.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED BY ORBITER:

• Vidicon Cameras

• Infrared Spectrometer

• Water vapor mapper

• Infrared Radiometers

• Thermal Mapper  

ORBITER:

     The Viking-1 Orbiter became a communication relay between Viking-1 Lander and Earth. It performed various operation during its period from 19 June 1976 to 16 August 1980 and operations were terminated on 17 August 1980, because it was ran out of control gas.

LANDER:

       The lander separated from orbiter on 20 July 1976 and it orbited around mars at a speed of 5km per hour. Its retrorockets fired and landed safely on Martian Surface using its parachute. During its landing its Mass Spectrometer measured pressure, temperature and density sensors. After successful landing of Viking-1 Lander, it began its operations after 25 seconds.The lander operated for a period of 6 years on Mars.It conducted various experiments, but in an attempt to program a new software it lost its communication.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED BY LANDER:

• Two Facsimile Cameras
• Analyser for Metabolism
• Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer
• X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
• Sensors to measure temperature, pressure,wind and velocity
• Three-axis seismometer
• A Magnet on a sampler
• Cameras and various sensors     

MISSION OUTCOMES:

      The Viking-1 Lander took biological experiment for the search of life, but the team got positive results. Some believe that the result was false due to various reasons. But NASA observed many changes to the surface near the viking landing site and they predict that, this change due to the inorganic chemical reactions. Life may be present.

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ESA's Mars Express Updates

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Mars 7 | 3MP No.51P

Mars 7 Lander/Flyby

     Mars 7 also known as 3MP No.51P was a Soviet Mars Spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3MP bus spacecraft launched as a part Mars Programme, This Mission carried a Lander and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars. This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin, Mars 6 and Mars 7 were 3MP spacecrafts. Two orbiters Mars-4 and Mars-5 were launched earlier and were expected to relay data for these two Landers. However Mars 4 failed to enter orbit and Mars 5 failed after few days in Martian orbit.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Thermometer - to measure surface temperature
• Barometer - to measure surface pressure
• Accelerometer
• Radio Altimeter -  for analyse the surface materials
• Mass Spectrometer
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Cosmic Ray detectors
• Micro-meteoroid detectors - to study proton,electron and fluxes from the Sun

OPERATION:     

      Mars 7 was launched by a Proton-K carrier rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 17:00:17 UTC. Mars 7 Lander failed to separate from the flyby. However it was eventually released to begin its descent. Due to the retrorocket failure, the probe missed the atmosphere of Mars, instead of landing, flew past along with the coast stage, with a closest approach of 1,300 kilometers. The spacecrafts transistors were blamed for the failure, along with that of Mars 4.

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• The Spacecraft failed, and failed to land on Mars due to transistor problem.

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Wonderful Discoveries of 2016

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NASA's LIGO detected Third Gravitational Wave

     NASA's Scientist revealed that about 3 billion years ago, two orbiting black hole collided to each other to form a single object, which is 49 times bigger than the sun.This powerful gravitational waves detected by the scientists on earth at 5:12 am EST on 4 January 2017. They were detected by ground based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana. This event was named GW170104 and this black hole is located at a distance of 3 billion light years, the black hole is twice as the distance. NASA Scientists detected the merging of two black holes in early January of 2017. This findings was published by LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) on 1 June 2017 in Journal Physical Review letters.

LIGO team believe the existence of stellar-mass black holes which are larger than 20 solar masses. It detected the first black hole merging in September and December 2015. These black hole produced powerful gravitational waves as they radiated at a speed of light by all the stars in the Universe at any time.NASA researchers also interested to know about that "black hole not only produce electromagnetic signals but also high-energy flares".

ABOUT LIGO:

     LIGO is established by National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by MIT and Caltech. Financial support was given by Max Planck Society (Germany), Science and Technology Council (U.K), Australian Research Council (Australia). LIGO was made successful with the effort of 1000 of scientists around the world and additionally 280 Scientists from Europe's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Nikhef, Virgo institution and European Gravitational Observatory.

References:

• LIGO Official News Site

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Mars 6 | 3MP No.50P

Mars 6 Lander

     Mars 6 also known as 3MP No.50P was a Soviet Mars Spacecraft launched to explore Mars. A 3Mp bus spacecraft launched as a part Mars Programme, This Mission carried a Lander and a coast stage with instruments to study Mars. This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin, Mars 6 and Mars 7 were 3MP spacecrafts. Two orbiters Mars-4 and Mars-5 were launched earlier and were expected to relay data for these two Landers. However Mars 4 failed to enter orbit and Mars 5 failed after few days in Martian orbit.

INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Thermometer - to measure surface temperature
• Barometer - to measure surface pressure
• Accelerometer
• Radio Altimeter -  for analyse the surface materials
• Mass Spectrometer
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Cosmic Ray detectors
• Micro-meteoroid detectors - to study proton,electron and fluxes from the Sun

OPERATION:

      Mars 6 Lander separated from the flyby on a large amount of the data which had been returned was unusable. at an altitude of 48,000 kilometers from the Surface of Mars at 09:05:53 UTC. The lander encountered the atmosphere at a speed of 5.6 km per hour. As it passed through the upper atmosphere, the parachute deployed to further slow the descent lander and retrorockets fired during the last seconds before probe reaching the ground.

     The Spacecraft returned data for  3.7 minutes during its descent through the Martian atmosphere. But at 09:11:05 UTC with the spacecraft about to fire its retrorockets in preparation for landing,all contact was lost. The contact lost due to the design flaw. a chip aboard the spacecraft had degraded during the mission.

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• A large amount of the data which had been returned was unusable. 
• The Spacecraft failed, due to the contact lost upon landing.
• Atmospheric data were mostly unreadable
• Only the Flyby bus collected data

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Saturn's Moon Enceladous have relocated Poles

Enceladus Moon of Saturn. Image Credit: NASA/ESA

      Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus may have tipped over in the distant past according to recent research from NASA's Cassini mission. Researchers with the mission found evidence that the moon's spin axis - the line through the north and south poles - has reoriented, possibly due to the collision with a smaller body, such as an Asteroid.

Examining the moon, researchers showed that the moon is tipped away from its original axis by about 55 degrees - more than half way toward rolling completely onto its side.And they also suggest that the moon may have some fossil remnants of an earlier, previous equator poles.

In 2005, Cassini discovered that jets of water vapour and icy particles spray from the tiger strips fractures - evidence that an underground ocean is venting directly into space from beneath the active south polar terrain.

Saturn's Moon Enceladus original equator was relocated to the poles. Credits: NASA

More Information at NASA/ESA Cassini Mission

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Mars 5 Orbiter | 3MS No.53S

Mars 5 Sketch

    Mars 3MS No.53S alternatively called Mars 5 Orbiter was a soviet spacecraft intended to explore Mars in early 1973. Mars 5 was intended to enter mars orbit around 1974.This spacecraft was built by Lavochkin. Mars 5 was the second of  two 3MS spacecraft launched to Mars in 1973. Other launches in the same window was Kosmos 419 orbiter, 3MP Mars 6, 3MP Mars 7.It carried an array of instruments to study Mars.Some of the Mars 5 instruments were:

 INSTRUMENTS CARRIED:

• Mars Camera
• Radio Telescope
• IR Radiometer
• Multiple photometer
• Polarimeters
• Magnetometer
• Plasma Traps
• Electrostatic Analyser
• Gamma-ray Spectrometer
• Radio-probe

OPERATION:

   Mars 4 was carried by Proton-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 18:55:48 UTC on 25th July 1973. First three stages of Proton-K successfully placed Mars-4 in low earth orbit. Fourth Stage (Block-D) placed Mars-4 into heliocentric orbit. On 2 February 1974 the spacecraft was successfully inserted into Martian Orbit.. Several Earlier missions of Russia (Roscosmos) results in failure of missions starting from Mars 1M No.1, 1M No.2, 2MV-4 No.1, 2MV-4 No.2 (Mars 1), 2MV-3 No.1, 2M No.521, 2M No.522, Kosmos 419 (3MS No.170), Mars 2 lander and Prop-M Rover. Only Mars2 and Mars 5 was mostly successful.

 

MISSION OUTCOMES:

• It stopped functioning on 28th February 1974
• It returned 180 photographs, 43 of which were good quality and usable. 

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