Emerging Discoveries with Solar System Missions

Sydney, Emily, Kelsi, Charlotte, Drake, Hayden and Roger

ASTR 371

The Sun

All images taken from NASA website without permission

Many of the most recent discoveries have been made by spacecraft orbiting Earth, rather than the Sun itself.

Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)● Launched in 2013● Studies Sun’s corona● October 2014

○ IRIS detected high-energy jets (90 miles per second and 200,000℉) of the material that forms the solar wind

○ It was previously thought that solar wind came from gentle evaporation (and was much slower, ~2 mps)

Hinode (Hee-NOH-dae)● Launched in 2006● Studies magnetic energy coming from the Sun● In 2006, it started detecting a large number of powerful X-ray jets emanating from the surface

○ As many as 240 jets per day, and some as wide as North America○ They “make an important contribution” to the superheating of the corona, a process that

was previously a mystery○ 10-25% of the solar wind is comprised of these jets

Van Allen Probes● Launched in 2012● Study (you guessed it) the VABs● With the help of SAMPEX (a past, no

longer functional mission) discovered the possibility of a third VAB

● Belt observed for four weeks before falling apart

Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)● Launched 2006● Two spacecraft STEREO-A and B,

orbit ahead of and behind Earth in Lagrange points

● Study coronal mass ejections (CMEs)● As of September 2016, we know the

divide between the corona and the solar wind

○ Corona: area where magnetosphere has control of ejected matter

○ Solar wind: formed after magnetosphere loses majority control of matter

Sounding Rockets● Short-term missions: 5-20 minutes in space● (Relatively) cheap● Follow parabolic trajectory● Don’t reach the height of satellites

Future MissionsSolar Orbiter

● Should launch in 2018● Will image the Sun from its elliptical orbit

around the Sun

Solar Probe Plus

● Should launch in 2018● Will study the Sun’s atmosphere in detail

from very short distance● Elliptical orbit will bring it within 3.7 million

miles of the Sun (<1/25 of an AU)● Will be equipped with a solar shield to

protect the instruments

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsMercuryMESSENGER - NASA

2011 - 2015 R.I.P.

Water Ice

Fault Scarps

Mars, Mercury & Venus Missions

Offset Magnetic Field

Unexplained Surface Depressions

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsVenusVenus Express - ESA

2006 -

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsRecent Volcanic Activity

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsExtreme Polar Vortexes

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsStrong Electric Field

Low Temperatures at Altitude

Slowing Rotation

Mars, Mercury & Venus MissionsMarsMars Reconnaissance Orbiter - NASA

2006 -

Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) - NASA

2012-

Maven - NASA

2013 -

Mars, Mercury & Venus Missions

Recurring Slope Lineae

Mars, Mercury & Venus Missions

Water Features

Tridymite Found

Underground Ice Slab

Possible Methane Detection

Detection of Organic Carbon

Dune InvestigationR.I.P Schiaparelli

Missions Orbiting the

Earth

Image of Earth: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/1-bluemarble_west.jpg

Tardigrades in Space - TARDIS (2007)

● Tardigrades or “water bears” were the first animals to survive exposure to space.

● For 12 days in September 2007, approx. 3000 travelled into space on ESA’s orbital Foton-M3 mission.

○ Exposed to vacuum and solar radiation of outer space for 10 days

○ Returned to Earth and rehydrated

Image of Foton-M3 mission: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2007/09/Foton-M3_spends_12_days_in_orbit_before_returning_to_Earth

Tardigrades in Space - TARDIS (2007)

Implications:

How do they survive under these conditions?

● Understanding these mechanisms can open the door to many insights in space bioscience

Why do they have this capability?● Survival in space linked to theories

about how life originated on Earth.

Source: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/Tiny_animals_survive_exposure_to_space

Color-enhanced electron micrograph image of a tardigrade: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130306.html

A Year in Space (2015 - 2016)

● Purpose: to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight.

● Extended exposure to a zero-gravity environment can cause:

○ changes to the eyes○ muscle atrophy ○ bone loss

Image of the ISS: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/american-russian-and-briton-join-international-space-station-crew

A Year in Space (2015 - 2016)

● Scott Kelly (NASA) and Mikhail Kornienko (Russia)

● Research included: ○ Functional studies (crew member

performance)○ Behavioral studies (sleep, exercise)○ Visual impairment○ Metabolic investigations ○ Physical performance ○ Human factors and interactions

Twin study (Mark Kelly)● Physical, psychological and genetic

studies

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/a-year-in-space Image of Scott Kelly:

https://news.spotify.com/us/2015/10/19/songs-of-a-year-in-space/

A Year in Space (2015 - 2016)

Impacts:● In space: human journeys deeper into

the solar system (including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer).

● On Earth: helping patients recover from long periods of bed rest or improving monitoring for people whose bodies are unable to fight infections.

Image of Mars : http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/edu_what_is_mars.jpg

The Earth’s Moon "That's one small step for a man.

One giant leap for mankind."

- Neil Armstrong

Apollo Missions Project Apollo's goals went beyond landing Americans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth. They included:

● Establishing the technology to meet other national interests in space.● Achieving preeminence in space for the United States.● Carrying out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon.● Developing man's capability to work in the lunar environment.

Apollo 11Mission ObjectiveThe primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national

goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961:

perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.

Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration

by the lunar module, or LM, crew;

deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth;

and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment,

seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector.

Other Missions Ranger - Take high quality pictures

Mini-RF - Map moon’s poles

Moon Mineralogy Mapper- first

mineralogical map of the lunar

surface.

Future and Significance of Lunar Exploration Robotic Missions orbit the moon to creating global maps.

Soft land on the moon to explore mysterious polar regions.

The Goal: To learn how to use the moon to support a new and growing spacefaring capability. We will learn skills and develop the technologies needed to live and work on another world. Use this knowledge and technology to open the solar system for human exploration.

Observing Comets & AsteroidsRosetta/Philae - ESA

Passed through asteroid belt

Orbited comet nucleus

Flew alongside comet toward inner solar system

Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko

in September 2014 as imaged by Rosetta

Examined comet warmed by sun

Philae landed on comet nucleus

Magnetic field

Water vapor differences

Organic compounds

Sept 30, 2016 Rosetta Landing

Observing Comets & Asteroids

Comet 67P seen from 10 km (6 mi)

Observing Comets & Asteroids

Rosetta image of 21 Lutetia at closest approach

P/2010 A2 is likely the debris left over from a recent collision between two very small asteroids.

Deep Impact - NASA

Collision with Temple 1

More dust, less ice

Clays, carbonates, sodium, silicates

Uranus and Neptune Oort cloud

Hartley 2

Observing Comets & Asteroids

Taken after impact

Hartley 2

Jovian Missions

Juno

Mission: Determine the makeup of Jupiter's atmosphere. Map out jupiter’s magnetic and gravitational fields

Launch: Aug 5 2011

Arrives: July 2016

Ends: Feb 2018

Jupiter's southern lights By Juno

Junos view jupiter's north pole

Mission To EuropaMission: to Orbit Jupiter and conduct in depth research on Jupiter's Moon Europa.

Europa shows evidence of liquid water oceans under icy crust may be hospitable for life

Europa from voyager 2

EuropaDuring mission:

45 flybys as close as 16 miles from surface

Use cameras and spectrometers for high resolution images

Ice penetrating radar

Magnetometer to measure magnetic field

Saturn's Cassini2005 dropped probe to surface

2008 finished 4 year mission

Late 2016 start of Cassinis grand finale

Cassinis Grand Finale

Repeated maneuvers over saturn's poles just outside the F ring

After final titan flyby cassini will make 22 orbits between saturn's upper atmosphere and its closest ring collecting valuable information on gravitation and magnetic fields and sampling atmosphere and ionosphere

Uranus And NeptuneOnly two planets never to be orbited

Nasa looking into sending probes in the 2020

Missions to Pluto & Kuiper Belt Objects

The New Horizons Mission The New Horizons mission is designed to explore the outer solar system. Its main targets are:

-Pluto

-Kuiper Belt Objects

It was launched in 2006 by NASA as part of their New Frontiers Program.

New Horizons Spacecraft● New Horizons travels at 36,373mph● It sends radio signals that probe the

planet’s atmosphere● It measures the number of solar

wind-charged particles emitted by the sun found around Pluto

● It records dust particle characteristics● It has seven imagers to take pictures

New Horizons-Pluto and its MoonsNew Horizons passed Pluto on July 14, 2015

It was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto

It provided information about Pluto’s:

● Surface properties● Geology● Interior composition● Atmosphere composition

This is the first high-resolution photo of Pluto’s surface.

It shows ice made of H20 and mountains 11,000 ft high.

New Horizons Mission-Kuiper Belt ObjectsThe New Horizons spacecraft will pass through the Kuiper Belt from 2016 to 2020

Its goal is to closely examine at least one KBO, because KBOs may provide information about the origin of the solar system.

Between January and March 2019, depending on its fuel level, New Horizons will either visit:

● PT1- 100% probability● PT2 -7% probability (eliminated)● PT3 -97% probability

Future of New HorizonsAfter passing through the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will join the Voyager probes in mapping the heliosphere.

In 2026, it is estimated that the New Horizons mission will end, and will only continue providing intermittent heliosphere data.

If New Horizons is still functioning when it reaches the outer heliosphere, it will meet the heliopause in 2047 and join Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in interstellar space.

References● The Sun: (All mission info from NASA website)

○ Discoveries/News:

■ NASA's IRIS Helps Explain Mysterious Heating of the Solar Atmosphere: <http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/iris-helps-explain-heating-of-solar-atmosphere>

■ New Discovery: The Sun is Bristling with X-ray Jets: <http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/06dec_xrayjets/>

■ NASA's Van Allen Probes Discover a Surprise Circling Earth: <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/third-belt.html>

■ Images From Sun’s Edge Reveal Origins of Solar Wind: <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/images-from-sun-s-edge-reveal-origins-of-solar-wind>

● Comets and Asteroids : (All mission info from NASA website and wikipedia)■ NASA’s Deep Impact Mission:

<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html#.WB_3kPkrJPY>

■ Deep Impact (spacecraft): <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(spacecraft)>

■ Rosetta (spacecraft): <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(spacecraft)>

● The Earth’s Moon : (All mission info from NASA website)

Apollo 11 Mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/index.html

Ranger Mission: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/ranger/

Mini-RF Mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/main/index.html

Moon Mineraology Mission: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/moon-mineralogy-mapper-m3/

● Pluto and Kuiper Belt (Mission Information From NASA Website)

New Horizons images -https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/07/new-horizons-pluto-historic-kuiper-encounter/

New Horizons News-http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3163577/New-Horizons-spacecraft-visit-Kuiper-Belt-historic-mission-Pluto.html

● Mercury, Venus, and Mars

Top Achievements of Messenger:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/27/science/space/28nasa-mercury-discoveries.html?_r=0

NASA missionshttp://www.nasa.gov/missionshttp://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2004-030Ahttp://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/mercurypage.htmlhttp://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/interactives/msl-science-discoveries/http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars

European Space Agency: Venus Expresshttp://sci.esa.int/venus-express/

Martian Ice Sheetshttp://www.space.com/30502-mars-giant-ice-sheet-discovery-mro.html

Curiosity Discoverieshttp://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report-this-year-s-top-discoveries-made-on-mars-by-curiosity-2155533

Juno Overview

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/overview/index.html

Europa Mission

http://www.nasa.gov/europa/overview/index.html

Cassini Mission

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/index.html

Image Galleries

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html