>From: owner-jsr@host.planet4589.org
>Subject: Jonathan's Space Report, No. 520
>Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 17:22:18 -0500
>
>Jonathan's Space Report
>No. 520 2004 Feb 11, Somerville, MA
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>
>The Progress No. 248 (M-48) cargo ship was undocked from Zvezda at
>0835:56 on Jan 28 and deorbited at 1311 UTC over the Pacific, completing
>the ISS 12P mission. The new cargo ship, Progress No. 260 (Progress
>M1-11) was launched from Baykonur on Jan 29 at 1158:08 on ISS mission
>13P and docked with the Zvezda module on the Space Station at 1313:11
>UTC on Jan 31. The new Progress carries cargo including experiments for
>the ESA/Netherlands DELTA mission and two new Orlan spacesuits, serials
>M-25 and M-26. It also carries a replacement flexhose for the Destiny
>lab window (culprit in last month's air leak) and equipment to be
>installed on Zvezda to support docking by the new European ATV cargo
>ship Jules Verne.
>
>Opportunity began roving on Mars at 0950 UTC on Jan 31. (Parachute and
>heat shield separation time for Opportunity was of course 0452-0453 UTC
>on Jan 25, not 0504 UTC as I said in JSR 519.)
>Opportunity has now peeped over the crater rim and seen its parachute
>and backshell lying on the Meridiani plains beyond. Spirit's file system
>was reformatted on Feb 4 and it has now resumed its exploration of the
>Gusev region.
>
>Location of the MER landings:
> (Areocentric) (IAU Areographic)
> Spirit 14.57S 175.47E 14.93S 184.53W
> Opportunity 1.95S 354.47E 1.98S 5.53W
>
>(While one JPL release gave the Spirit location to 0.0001 deg, their
> superimposed image is significantly off the later known location
> of the lander. Anyone who has more accurate coords, please forward them
> - I'd like to catalog the separate positions of the heat shields and
> backshells, which are about 0.01 deg away from the landers).
>
>SES Americom's AMC-10 satellite was launched on Feb 5 by a Lockheed
>Martin/ILS Atlas IIAS from Cape Canaveral. The satellite is a Lockheed
>Martin A2100 with a launch mass of 2315 kg and 907 kg dry (Thanks to David
>Legangneux for the mass data). After launch at 2346 UTC, Centaur AC-165
>reached a 185 x 185 km orbit at 2355 UTC. The second Centaur burn at
>0009 UTC on Feb 6 put the satellite in geostationary transfer orbit.
>AMC-10 will replace Satcom C-4. The AMC (Americom) series of satellites
>descends from the original RCA Americom system first launched in 1975
>as one of the earliest private telecom satellite networks.
>
>Cutting Space Science?
>----------------------------------
>
>Although the President's 2005 budget request to Congress includes an
>overall small increase for NASA to pay for new human space exploration,
>some aspects of space science and astronomy are under the axe. The
>detailed status of the NASA space science budget remains unclear, but
>the overall picture is not encouraging, with immediate cuts to some
>programs and a forecast of a long term continuing (inflation-adjusted)
>decrease for overall science to pay for the new human exploration
>intiative.
>
>The total extrasolar astronomy budget (Origins and SEU themes) has
>remained stable this year, but there have been major reallocations with
>no consultation with the science peer-review community. Although some
>programs such as the JWST infrared telescope and the search for
>extrasolar planets have managed to argue that they are part of
>`exploration' and for now survive unscathed or even boosted (until the
>real costs of the CEV program require further cuts) some of the most
>scientifically successful parts of NASA, including the Explorer program
>and the Structure/Evolution of the Universe theme (SEU) appear to be
>facing a bleak long-term future.
>
>Cuts are being made to the Explorer program previously extolled as a
>flagship example of a federal program (recent Explorer missions included
>WMAP, which determined the age of the Universe). MIDEX and SMEX
>missions are to be delayed and cut back. (One colleague commented that
>the idea that the Explorers don't do exploration was 'positively
>Orwellian'). Money is also being taken from the budget of the
>Constellation X mission, highly rated by the National Academy of
>Sciences; the mission will be postponed for an unknown amount of time.
>The Beyond Einstein probes, previously expected to start getting funding
>this year, are to be indefinitely delayed.
>
>Editorial (last one for a while I hope)
>---------
>
>While the Station program was over budget and slipping, and the Mars
>probes were failing, missions like the Explorers and Chandra were a
>bright spot for NASA. Now our hard work and success are to be rewarded
>with significant cutbacks. Let me say it clearly: I support the idea of
>an enhanced human exploration program, but I strongly oppose paying for
>it at the cost of losing the successors to Chandra and WMAP, and the
>chance of a partial replacement for Hubble (which JWST is not). I
>believe there is strong public support for basic research, there are
>clear technological and educational benefits to understanding the
>extreme physics these missions study, and the US national interest would
>be best served by protecting the relatively small amount of money in the
>successful and productive program to study the deep universe, even at
>the cost of slight stretchout of the ambitious exploration program. At
>the very least, the space community should be aware that these decisions
>are being made rather than passing over them in silence - it's such a
>small part of the budget that analyses in magazines like AvWeek didn't
>mention it.
>
>Table of Recent Launches
>-----------------------
>
>Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
> DES.
>Jan 11 0413 Estrela do Sul Zenit-3SL Odyssey Comms 01A
>Jan 29 1158 Progress M1-11 Soyuz-U Baykonur Cargo 02A
>Feb 5 2346 AMC-10 Atlas IIAS Canaveral SLC36A Comms 03A
>
>.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
>| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
>| Somerville MA 02143 | inter : jcm@host.planet4589.org |
>| USA | jcm@cfa.harvard.edu |
>| |
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