NASA LAUNCH STARTS HUNT FOR LIFE ON MARS : NASA BEGINS 10 YEARS OF STUDY ON RED PLANET.Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer Emboldened em·bold·en tr.v. em·bold·ened, em·bold·en·ing, em·bold·ens To foster boldness or courage in; encourage. See Synonyms at encourage. Adj. 1. by the possibility that life might have existed on Mars, earthbound earth·bound also earth-bound adj. 1. Fastened in or to the soil: earthbound roots. 2. a. explorers began a 10-year probe of the Red Planet on Thursday with the launch of an unmanned spacecraft. Jet Propulsion jet propulsion, propulsion of a body by a force developed in reaction to the ejection of a high-speed jet of gas. Jet Propulsion Engines The four basic parts of a jet engine are the compressor, turbine, combustion chamber, and propelling nozzles. Laboratory's Mars Global Surveyor The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 20-year absence. blasted off just after 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time from Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral (kənăv`ərəl), low, sandy promontory extending E into the Atlantic Ocean from a barrier island, E Fla., separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River, a lagoon; named (1963) Cape Kennedy in memory of President John , Fla. JPL (language) JPL - JAM Programming Language. scientists and their families, who gathered at the Pasadena complex to watch the event on closed-circuit television, clapped and cheered when the Delta II rocket carrying the $155 million spacecraft left the launch pad. The probe's picture-perfect departure came a day after poor weather forced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), to scrub Wednesday's planned launch and three years after NASA's JPL lost contact with the Mars Observer, which like the Global Observer would have explored Mars from space. After the spacecraft completes its 10-month, 470-million-mile journey to Mars, it will begin beaming back data on the planet's climate and landscape including information about where, if anywhere, water can be found. ``Life as we know it Life As We Know It is an American television drama on the ABC network during the 2004-2005 season. It was created by Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. The series was based on the novel Doing It by British writer Melvin Burgess. requires water,'' said Cheick Diarra, manager of the JPL's Mars Exploration Program Education and Public Outreach. ``We have to identify where the water might be to be able to determine if life has ever existed on Mars and if it still exists.'' The debate over whether life existed on the cold planet grew feverish when NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. researchers announced in August that a Martian meteorite meteorite, meteor that survives the intense heat of atmospheric friction and reaches the earth's surface. Because of the destructive effects of this friction, only the very largest meteors become meteorites. discovered in Antarctica contained chemicals consistent with the one-time existence of primitive life. Other scientists have disputed the findings. Although JPL scientists said they hope someday to be able to get to the bottom of the issue, they added that NASA's 10-year Mars Surveyor Program also will help them learn more about their home planet, which is roughly the same age as Mars. ``The data will allow us to understand the evolution of Mars so that we can better understand the evolution of Earth,'' said S. Sam Dallas, manager of the Mars Global Surveyor Program Mission System. As part of the Surveyor exploration program to send 10 U.S. spacecraft to the Red Planet through 2005, scientists are planning an unmanned mission for as early as 2003 which would bring Martian soil and rocks back to Earth. This is what makes this first Global Surveyor mission so important, JPL scientists say, because it could help them decide where to land future missions designed to help answer the burning question about life on Mars Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. It remains an open question whether life exists on Mars now, or existed there in the past. . The JPL plans to send off the Mars Pathfinder landing craft with its four-wheel rover Dec. 2 to study the planet's climate and composition including ancient rocks. When it lands on Independence Day 1997 - about two months before the Global Surveyor is set to enter the planet's orbit - the Mars Pathfinder will be the first spacecraft to touch down on Mars since the Viking in 1976. While in a 235-mile-high orbit, the Global Surveyor will send information to Earth, using data gathered by six sophisticated instruments including a camera powerful enough to capture surface sand dunes and boulders. ``We can see things about the size of a compact car on the surface,'' said Glenn Cunningham, project manager of the Mars Global Surveyor Program, who was in Florida for the launch. JPL officials said the Mars Surveyor Program assures the laboratory a stable source of funding - $1 billion over 10 years - while many research dollars are often available only on a year-by-year basis. Frank O'Donnell, a JPL spokesman, called the $100 million in annual funds good news for the lab where NASA cutbacks have reduced the work force to 5,500 employees and 1,000 contractors, down from 6,000 employees and 1,500 contractors in 1993. ``It is healthy to our program to have a 10-year period we can look forward to,'' O'Donnell said. The program represents about 10 percent of the JPL's yearly $1 billion budget, O'Donnell said, but a significant portion of the program money goes to contractors such as Lockheed Martin Astronautics astronautics: see space science. Astronautics Flash Gordon space-traveling hero. [Am. Comics and Cin.: Halliwell] From the Earth to the Moon , which built the Global Surveyor. About 200 JPL employees are working on the Mars Surveyor Program full time, officials said. Many of the 75 JPL employees and their families, who flocked to a small conference room to see the launch on NASA television, sighed with relief after the 2,337-pound spacecraft had shed its nine booster rockets and began heading toward Mars. ``It's a perfect launch,'' Dallas said. ``It's unusual to have such a perfect launch.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color) The unmanned Mars Global Surveyor blasts off Thursday in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (2) An artist's rendering depicts the unmanned Mars Global Surveyor designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in Pasadena. Associated Press |
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