| Article: 1367
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
From: [email protected] (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Sampex to study mysteries of Sun and our galaxy [Release 92-102]
Sender: [email protected]
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1992 04:09:02 GMT
Charles Redmond
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. July 2, 1992
(Phone: 202/453-8400)
RELEASE: 92-102
SAMPEX TO STUDY MYSTERIES OF SUN AND OUR GALAXY
NASA will launch the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle
Explorer (SAMPEX) spacecraft aboard a four-stage Scout rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, July
3. The launch window lasts 20 minutes. The launch will be carried
live on NASA Select Television.
"This mission will collect samples of material from the sun and
interstellar space that are as revealing to scientists as a rock from
the Moon," says Dr. David Gilman, NASA Headquarters program manager
for the mission.
The 348-pound spacecraft is the first of a new series of Explorer
missions which will enable scientists to develop less costly astronomy
and space science experiments in a shorter period of time. SAMPEX was
begun only 3 years ago.
The spacecraft has 4 separate instruments designed to measure atoms,
ions and subatomic particles coming either from the Sun or from the
galaxy. Each of the instruments contributes to an understanding of
the type of atom or atomic particle, its weight and energy, and the
general direction of its travel.
Science teams from American and German science organizations comprise
the spacecraft investigation team and will be collaborating for the
mission's estimated 1-to-3 year lifetime. The data they analyze are
expected to contribute new knowledge and improve our understanding of
the evolution of our sun, the solar system, and galaxies.
Mission Seeks to Understand Anomalous Cosmic Rays
A principal SAMPEX goal is to confirm the origin of what are called
anomalous cosmic rays. Anomalous cosmic rays are thought to be
particles of the interstellar gas P the matter which exists in the
space between the sun and other stars in our galaxy. These particles
are thought to enter our solar system and are then hit by the sun's
solar wind.
The spacecraft's peculiar 342-by-419-mile-high elliptical orbit will
enable the onboard instruments to use the Earth as a giant magnetic
shield. Using Earth as a shield, the 4 instruments can determine
if particles are coming from the sun, from the Milky Way Galaxy, or
whether they are the anomalous cosmic rays.
The sun produces a cornucopea of particles P whole atoms, ionized
atoms and individual protons, electrons and neutrons P in its nuclear
furnace. Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, produces an equally rich variety
of such particles but usually at speeds and energies much higher than
those produced by the sun.
As the solar wind accelerates the intersteller gas particles, these
interstellar particles are boosted in energy to levels where they are
comparable to the very high energy particles called cosmic rays.
"This will greatly increase our knowledge of the sun and what appears
to be the empty space between us and the nearest stars," Gilman said.
Gilman says the SAMPEX instruments will collect 20 to 100 times more
of this anomalous cosmic ray material than any previous mission.
NASA Select television is available on Satcom F-2R, Transponder 13,
located at 72 degrees west longitude; frequency 3960.0 MHz, audio 6.8 MHz.
Article: 2524
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.local.texas,clari.news.gov.agency
Subject: NASA successfully launches SAMPEX satellite
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 92 16:18:03 PDT
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (UPI) -- After three scrubbed
launch dates over the last two weeks, NASA launched the SAMPEX satellite
Friday to study solar particles and cosmic rays in space.
The satellite, a joint $26.7 million project of NASA and the German
government, was launched at 7:19 a.m. despite foggy conditions at the
coastal launch pad, NASA spokeswoman Jan Cooksey said.
``The rocket was so graceful. It performed flawlessly and we're
elated,'' said David Gilman, manager of the NASA Small Explorer Program.
SAMPEX, launched into Earth's orbit aboard a Scout rocket, will
be investigating the ``energetic particles that come from space,'' he said.
Spacecraft separation and deployment occurred about 15 minutes after
liftoff. NASA engineers made contact with SAMPEX at 11:41 a.m., confirming
the satellite had lodged itself in its planned orbit, officials said.
The primary function of SAMPEX will be to contribute new information
on the composition of atoms or enegetic particles arriving at Earth from
the solar atmosphere and interstellar space, Gilman said.
``This satellite will have heightened sensitivity and will be able to
record information more precisely than ever before,'' he said.
The satellite, developed by NASA's Small Explorer Program, will be
orbiting Earth for three years.
Information will be stored in computer banks that can be triggered
when the satellite orbits over NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
The satellite carries four scientific instruments: The low-energy,
ion composition analyzer; a heavy ion telescope, provided by the Max
Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany; and
a proton and electron telescope from the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
SAMPEX's initial June 20 launch date was cancelled because of battery
problems, NASA spokeswoman Jan Cooksey said.
A five-day lunar eclipse delayed takeoff once again.
``The satellite needs full sunlight because it is solar powered,''
Cooksey said. ``The solar panels need to be opened for it to be operable.''
On June 29, engineers tried unsuccessfully to launch SAMPEX, but a
connector problem prevented them from reaching their goal.
Three days later an electrical problem prevented takeoff.
``The only concern we had today was the blanket of fog that covered
the area, but it wasn't a problem,'' Cooksey said.
``Everyone was pretty jubilant this morning because it was a
successful launch,'' she said.
Article: 2525
From: [email protected] (United Press International)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.news.military,clari.news.aviation
Subject: Quote of the Day
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 92 21:04:47 PDT
Richard ``Dick'' Richards, commander of the Columbia shuttle
mission, defending NASA's planned space station in an interview with
the Mutual Radio Network:
``When I look back three or four hundred years and see the
great nations of this world that have risen and fallen, to me the key
to their success has been the idea that they were able to invest in
exploration.''
|
| Article: 27138
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro
From: [email protected] (Ron Baalke)
Subject: GSFC Monthly Status Reports
Sender: [email protected] (Usenet)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 05:58:17 GMT
Goddard Monthly Public Affairs Status Report, September 1992
SAMPEX Solar Anomalous Magnetospheric Particle Explorer
SAMPEX: The Low Energy Ion Composition Analyzer (LEICA) reached a
nominal operating state Sept. 23. Spacecraft operators currently
are collecting data from all four SAMPEX instruments. However,
analysis of the anomaly with LEICA's high voltage, first reported
July 21, is ongoing. SAMPEX, a small explorer satellite, was
launched July 3, 1992 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc,
Calif., aboard a Scout rocket.
Contact: Dolores Beasley (301) 286-2806.
___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | [email protected]
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Einstein's brain is stored
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | in a mason jar in a lab
|_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | in Wichita, Kansas.
|
| Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Michael Finneran
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Jay Aller
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
RELEASE: 93-94
The location of a radiation belt of cosmic rays -- particles from
beyond the solar system -- has been pinpointed several hundred miles above the
Earth, according to scientists from the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
A NASA satellite called Solar, Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle
Explorer (SAMPEX), was orbiting 375 miles (600 kilometers) above the Earth when
it measured the belt.
The belt is most intense above a 5,000-mile (8,050- kilometer) strip of
Atlantic Ocean between the southern tips of South America and Africa, Caltech
and NASA scientists said at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical
Union in Baltimore, Md., on Tuesday, May 25.
The belt is composed of particles known as anomalous cosmic rays, which
are the result of the sun's interaction with tenuous gas that exists between
the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
"We were pretty sure the belt was there, and now we've pinned it down
along with its location, which we didn't know before," said Goddard's Dr. Tycho
von Rosenvinge, a member of the SAMPEX team.
The first clear evidence for such a raof Russian and U.S. scientists in
1991 using information from a series of Russian COSMOS spacecraft.
They were unable, however, to determine directly the location of the
belt, which is composed of different high-energy particles than another region
of radiation, the Van Allen radiation belts discovered by James A. Van Allen in
1958 using data from NASA's Explorer 1 satellite.
The belt in which the anomalous cosmic rays collect is embedded within
the inner of the two Van Allen belts. The geometry of these belts is
determined by the Earth's magnetic field lines, which connect the North and
South magnetic poles.
"The cosmic rays become trapped in this field, where they bounce back
and forth between the poles of Earth's magnetic field," said Caltech's Dr.
Richard Mewaldt, a member of the SAMPEX team along with Caltech colleagues Drs.
Jay Cummings, Alan Cummings, Richard Selesnick and Edward Stone.
The rays are the most intense in the 5,000-mile (8,050- kilometer)
strip between South America and Africa, Mewaldt said, because the Earth's
magnetic field is not centered perfectly, and this is where it allows the
trapped particles to get closest to the planet's surface.
SAMPEX scientists said trapped cosmic rays can be stored in the belt
for weeks or more, so the intensity can build up over time as more arrive.
More of the cosmic rays collect in the belt during periods of minimum solar
activity, which follows an 11- year cycle.
The trapped radiation has doubled between August and November 1992,
according to SAMPEX measurements, and now is about 100 times the intensity of
the anomalous cosmic rays in interplanetary space.
"This long-term storage will give the SAMPEX team a unique opportunity
to study the properties of interstellar matter right in Earth's back yard,"
Mewaldt said.
SAMPEX was launched in July 1992 on a Scout rocket from Vandenberg Air
Force Base, Calif. The satellite is managed by Goddard for the Office of Space
Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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