Sunday: January 27, 2002  0001 GMT
Black hole mystery mimicked by supercomputer
Advanced supercomputers have simulated extremely powerful energy jets squirted out by black holes, the most exotic and powerful objects in the Universe. The research helps unlock the mysteries of rotating black holes and confirms that their rotation actually produces power output.
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Black hole
Chandra snaps image of Galactic Center's radio arc
Chandra observations of a region of the Galactic Center have found an X-ray filament and cloud about 40 light years across. These X-ray features are associated with large filamentary and shell-like structures that are bright sources of radio waves.
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Chandra
Chandra telescope designer wins 2002 Rossi Prize
Leon Van Speybroeck, who led the effort to design and make the X-ray mirrors for NASA's premier X-ray observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, has been recognized for a career of stellar achievements in designing precision X-ray optics.
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Chandra
Saturday: January 26, 2002  0237 GMT
Extraordinary new image of famous Horsehead Nebula
A new, high-resolution color image of one of the most photographed celestial objects, the famous "Horsehead Nebula", has been produced from the European Southern Observatory. The photo shows the famous the nebula, which is situated in the Orion molecular cloud complex.
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Horsehead
International space station spacewalk completed
Expedition Four commander Yuri Onufrienko and flight engineer Dan Bursch conducted a successful six-hour spacewalk Friday to install several items to the exterior of the international space station's Russian segment.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
ISS
Aerojet delivers X-38 Deorbit Propulsion Stage
After three years of design, engineering and assembly, Aerojet on Friday delivered the Deorbit Propulsion Stage (DPS) for the X-38, NASA's full-scale prototype for the International Space Station emergency Crew Return Vehicle.
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X-38
Friday: January 25, 2002  0129 GMT
International space station spacewalk on tap today
Expedition Four commander Yuri Onufrienko and flight engineer Dan Bursch will conduct a spacewalk today to install several items to the exterior of the international space station's Russian segment. The six-hour excursion is expected to begin at 10:35 a.m. EST.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
ISS
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Space station scientists expand colloid research
Ground-based scientists expanded their colloid research aboard the international space station during the past week from study of the fine particles in colloids to gel structures built with these particles. The gel structure allows scientists to study basic properties such as formation and aging that may be useful in ground-based manufacturing.
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Colloid
Shuttle Columbia's move to launch pad delayed again
The rollout of space shuttle Columbia to its launch pad has been delayed until the weekend. Wednesday's planned move was scrubbed because of a steering problem with the massive transporter used to carry shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
STS-109

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U.S. ecology altered by fertilizers, acid rain
A NASA-funded study of ancient and unpolluted South American forests promises to upend longstanding beliefs about ecosystems and the effects of pollution in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Earth
Thursday: January 24, 2002  0454 GMT
Ariane overcomes computer abort, lofts Indian satellite
A satellite designed to enhance communications across India and replace two aging craft was successfully launched into Earth orbit Wednesday by a European Ariane 4 rocket following a bumpy countdown that featured an abort just seconds before ignition.
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Ariane
Thruster problem delays weather satellite launch
A U.S. military weather satellite that was seconds away from blastoff one year ago this week has remained Earth-bound due to a variety of technical problems, the latest of which technicians recently uncovered as they prepared to fuel the spacecraft for a February 1 launch.
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DMSP
Transporter trouble halts Columbia's move to pad
Wednesday's planned rollout of Columbia was scrubbed because of a steering problem with the massive transporter used to carry space shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the seaside launch pads at Kennedy Space Center.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   FULL MISSION PREVIEW
STS-109

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Humans' internal clock not ready for Mars time
The human internal clock fails to adapt to non-24-hour days and that fact takes its toll on astronauts, international travelers and shift workers. Adapting to these different day lengths is critical to mission success, a study funded in part by NASA concludes.
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Mars
PROBA promises wealth of environmental data
ESA's new micro-satellite PROBA has captured its first test images of the Earth's surface using its small but powerful optical instrument, just two months after its launch from the Indian equator.
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Cuba
Wednesday: January 23, 2002  0517 GMT
U.S. Topography data from shuttle mission unveiled
Displaying spectacular new 3-D images and animations of California from space, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Tuesday announced the release of high-resolution topographic data of the continental United States gathered during the February 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
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SRTM
NASA balloon makes record-breaking flight
Larger than a football field and flying near the edge of space, a NASA scientific balloon has set a new flight record of almost 32 days after completing two orbits around the South Pole. The balloon carried an experiment designed to search for the origin of cosmic rays.
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Balloon
First Arianespace launch of 2002 poised to fly
Arianespace is counting down the final hours for today's launch of an Ariane 4 rocket with an Indian communications satellite onboard. Liftoff is scheduled for 2253 GMT (5:53 p.m. EST) from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on South America's northeast coast.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Ariane
Tuesday: January 22, 2002  0200 GMT
Gemini Observatory celebrates historic first
The National Science Foundation joined its international partners last week in dedicating Gemini South, the second of the two Gemini telescopes to become operational. From high atop remote mountains in Chile and Hawaii, the twin telescopes for the first time give astronomers access to the entire sky with state-of-the-art 8-meter instruments.
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Gemini
'Local' gamma ray bursts may solve a mystery or two
Although scientists have believed for some time that most gamma-ray bursts are very distant, a Goddard scientist has discovered 100 of them that are quite "local," within 325 million light years from Earth.
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GRB
Monday: January 21, 2002  0225 GMT
Robotic construction crew rolls up its sleeves
The first construction workers on Mars may not need hardhats. NASA researchers have successfully demonstrated the first use of multiple rovers that work tightly in sync to perform tasks such as coordinated grasping, lifting and moving of an extended payload, while navigating through obstacles on natural terrain.
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Robots
EO-1 gets mission extension
The mission was to validate nine new breakthrough technologies in the unique environment of space -- technologies that will change the way spacecraft and Earth-viewing instruments are built and operated in the future. After a fully successful series of experiments and tests, NASA's going for more.
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EO-1
Europe's Ariane 4 rocket to launch Wednesday
Arianespace plans to kick off its 2002 launch season on Wednesday evening with the flight of an Ariane 4 rocket carrying the Insat 3C satellite for the Indian space agency.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
V147
A Year in Space
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now present a 100-page, full-color special publication: 2001: a Year in Space. A stunning month-by-month pictorial record of the space events and discoveries during 2001. Available now from our store.
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Earlier news
Jan. 14-20: Discoveries raise hopes, questions about life on Mars; Milstar satellite launched by Titan 4 in first space shot of 2002; Trouble sends Galileo into hibernation during Io flyby.

Jan. 7-13: First steps in terrestrial planet formation observed?; Planet around the star Vega suggested in dust swirl; Mars Odyssey completes aerobraking.

Dec. 31-Jan. 6: Moon of Uranus is demoted; Hubble snaps stunning view of globules in space; Sun erupts; New images of 'Pillars of Creation' in Eagle Nebula.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.





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