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Sunday:
February 8, 2004 | |
0311 GMT |
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Rover takes a bite out of rock in the name of science
Its two diamond-tipped teeth gnawing at 3,000 revolutions per minute, the Mars rover Spirit has bore a hole in Adirondack, providing scientists a window inside the volcanic rock. Meanwhile, Opportunity has completed its drive to a rock dubbed Snout.
 FULL STORY
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
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Comet blamed for 6th century 'nuclear winter'
Scientists at Cardiff University, UK, believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago - a comet colliding with Earth.
FULL STORY
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Landslide warnings from satellites may save lives
As winter rains come, thousands of square kilometers of territory across Europe's heart face a looming threat: steep slopes and waterlogged soils combine to trigger landslides.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
February 7, 2004 | |
0322 GMT |
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Spirit readies for long drive after rock cleaning, grinding
Whipping half-inch stainless steel bristles against a pyramid-shaped rock, the Spirit rover has performed "the greatest interplanetary brushing of all time," a scientist joked Friday with the unveiling the latest images from Mars.
FULL STORY
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: SPIRIT'S BRUSHING OF ROCK EXPLAINED BY SCIENTIST QT
VIDEO: MICROSCOPIC IMAGES AFTER BRUSHING WITH NARRATION QT
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S BRIEFING ON LATEST IMAGES AND DRIVE PLANS QT
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Opportunity cruising to exposed bedrock
Driving up the inclined wall of the small crater the craft landed in, the Mars rover Opportunity was expected to arrive at the outer edge of bedrock outcropping early Saturday to begin its geologic work.
FULL STORY
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: FORWARD VIEW OF OPPORTUNITY'S DRIVE W/NARRATION QT
VIDEO: REAR VIEW OF OPPORTUNITY'S DRIVE W/NARRATION QT
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Friday:
February 6, 2004 | |
0635 GMT |
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American TV watchers to reap benefits of launch
Starting this spring when U.S. cable television viewers flip on the Discovery Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon or Showtime, they will be watching the channels via a broadcasting satellite successfully launched into space Thursday from Cape Canaveral.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
STATUS CENTER PART 1
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: 6-MINUTE CLIP OF ATLAS LAUNCHING AMC-10 QT
VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH COMMENTS FROM MANAGERS QT
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF THE AMC-10 CABLE TV SATELLITE QT
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION PREVIEW OF THIS LAUNCH QT
FROM THE ARCHIVES: MOST RECENT ATLAS 2AS FROM THE CAPE
VIDEO: LIFTOFF AS SEEN FROM COMPLEX 36 BLOCKHOUSE ROOF QT
VIDEO: CAMERA LOCATED IN YARD NORTHEAST OF PAD QT
VIDEO: DRAMATIC CAMERA ANGLE FROM UMBILICAL TOWER QT
VIDEO: SETTING SUN SERVES AS BACKDROP IN EASTERN VIEW QT
VIDEO: SOUTH CAMERA VIEW FROM END OF LAUNCH PAD RAMP QT
VIDEO: TRACKING CAMERA FOLLOWS ROCKET THROUGH T+3 MIN QT
VIDEO: CLOSE-UP OF ENGINES DURING ASCENT QT
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New study shows how black holes get their 'kicks'
When black holes collide, look out! An enormous burst of gravitational radiation results as they violently merge into one massive black hole. The "kick" that occurs during the collision could knock the black hole clear out of its galaxy.
FULL STORY
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An abrasive collision gives one galaxy a 'black eye'
A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.
FULL STORY
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Thursday:
February 5, 2004 | |
0415 GMT |
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Atlas rocket to launch U.S. cable TV satellite today
Some of the most popular television channels will reach millions of Americans via a new broadcasting satellite that goes up today aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for 5:56 p.m. EST (2256 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
OUR PREVIEW STORY
LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
GROUND TRACK MAP
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION PREVIEW OF THIS LAUNCH QT
FROM THE ARCHIVES: MOST RECENT ATLAS 2AS FROM THE CAPE
VIDEO: LIFTOFF AS SEEN FROM COMPLEX 36 BLOCKHOUSE ROOF QT
VIDEO: CAMERA LOCATED IN YARD NORTHEAST OF PAD QT
VIDEO: DRAMATIC CAMERA ANGLE FROM UMBILICAL TOWER QT
VIDEO: SETTING SUN SERVES AS BACKDROP IN EASTERN VIEW QT
VIDEO: SOUTH CAMERA VIEW FROM END OF LAUNCH PAD RAMP QT
VIDEO: TRACKING CAMERA FOLLOWS ROCKET THROUGH T+3 MIN QT
VIDEO: CLOSE-UP OF ENGINES DURING ASCENT QT
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Report: Dramatic thinning of Earth's atmosphere
The highest layers of the Earth's atmosphere are cooling and contracting, most likely in response to increasing levels of greenhouse gases, according to a new study by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory. This contraction could result in longer orbital lifetimes for both satellites and hazardous space debris.
FULL STORY
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Galactic building blocks seen swarming Andromeda
A team of astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope has made the first conclusive detection of what appear to be the leftover building blocks of galaxy formation -- neutral hydrogen clouds -- swarming around the Andromeda Galaxy, the nearest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.
FULL STORY
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Opportunity sees tiny spheres in Martian soil
Opportunity has examined its first patch of soil in the small crater where the rover landed on Mars and found strikingly spherical pebbles among the mix of particles there. "There are features in this soil unlike anything ever seen on Mars before," says the lead scientist.
STATUS REPORT
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: MICROSCOPIC IMAGE & ROVER STATUS BRIEFING QT
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Wednesday:
February 4, 2004 | |
0234 GMT |
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First of two new U.S. cable TV satellites set for launch
Some of the most popular television channels will reach millions of Americans via a new broadcasting satellite that goes up Thursday aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
GROUND TRACK MAP
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION PREVIEW OF THIS LAUNCH QT
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Supernova blast bonanza in nearby galaxy
A nearby dwarf galaxy is a hotbed of vigorous star birth activity which blows huge bubbles that riddle the main body of the galaxy. The galaxy's "star factories" are also manufacturing brilliant blue star clusters. This galaxy had a sudden and relatively recent onset of star birth about 25 million years ago, which subsided about the time the very earliest human ancestors appeared on Earth.
FULL STORY
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2005 budget to fuel NASA's new exploration plan
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe presented the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2005 budget
proposal on Tuesday. The spending plan would implement the new U.S. space exploration policy.
FULL STORY
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: WATCH O'KEEFE GIVE BRIEFING ON THE BUDGET PLAN QT
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Tuesday:
February 3, 2004 | |
0504 GMT |
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Rover's arm reaches for clues about Mars' history
Lending a hand to unlocking the geologic riddles of Mars, the rover Opportunity has extended its instrument-laden arm to begin probing soil on the floor of a small crater where the craft landed.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: OPPORTUNITY'S ARM DEPLOYED WITH NARRATION QT
VIDEO: 36O-DEGREE COLOR PAN UNVEILED WITH EXPLANATION QT
VIDEO: TODAY'S SPIRIT AND OPPORTUNITY STATUS BRIEFING QT
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Martian hills dedicated to fallen Columbia crew
The Martian hills, located east of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover's landing site, will be dedicated to the space shuttle Columbia STS-107 crew, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced Monday.
READ ANNOUNCEMENT
HILLS NAMED FOR APOLLO 1 CREW
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Oxygen, carbon discovered in exoplanet atmosphere
The well-known extrasolar planet HD 209458b, provisionally nicknamed Osiris, has surprised astronomers again. Oxygen and carbon have been found in its atmosphere, evaporating at such an immense rate that the existence of a new class of extrasolar planets - 'the chthonian planets' or 'dead' cores of completely evaporated gas giants - has been proposed.
FULL STORY
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Big Bang echoes corrupted?
In recent years, astronomers have obtained detailed measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation - the 'echo' from the birth of the Universe during the Big Bang. But now a group of UK astronomers has found evidence that the primordial microwave echoes may have been modified or 'corrupted' on their 13 billion year journey to the
Earth.
FULL STORY
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Monday:
February 2, 2004 | |
0443 GMT |
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Files deleted on Spirit to fix computer trouble
A week-and-a-half after falling ill to computer woes, NASA on Sunday declared its Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was healthy again.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
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IN OTHER NEWS Additional stories making news today
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New era begins for European weather satellite system -- With commissioning activities finished, the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-1) begins delivering nine new and three improved products at higher speeds. In keeping with tradition, MSG-1 will be renamed Meteosat-8.
Boeing successfully tests new engine -- The Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power business unit of Boeing successfully completed hot-fire testing of an RS-88 rocket engine at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The 50,000-pound-thrust engine was designed and built by Boeing for use on Lockheed Martin's Pad Abort Demonstration vehicle.
Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman get TCM contract -- A Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman team has been awarded one of two industry contracts valued at approximately $472 million to enter the Risk Reduction and System Definition phase of the U.S. Air Force's Transformational Communications MILSATCOM Space Segment. TCM will provide thousands of users with significantly improved, highly mobile, beyond line-of-sight protected communications to support the future battlefield.
Boeing awarded $472 million for TCM satellite system -- In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, Boeing will develop a system design and demonstrate critical technologies for a secure, high-capacity global communications network serving the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and the intelligence community.
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