Surveyor scores.Imagine pitching a baseball from California across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City--and hitting a specific window in the Empire State Building! That's how scientists at the 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, California, describe the launch of 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. into Martian orbit. No one knew if the mission would succeed when Surveyor was fired into space (see SW 10/6/97, p. 9). NASA's last attempt to orbit Mars failed in 1993, when Mars Observer vanished three days before reaching Mars' orbit. Now scientists have hit the mark. After a 10-month, 700-million-kilometer (435-million-mile) trek, Surveyor has kicked into orbit around Mars with pinpoint accuracy. For the next two years the spacecraft will reap a wealth of data on Mars' atmosphere and map the planet's entire surface. The satellite's findings, along with future missions, could solve the age-old mystery: Is there--or was there ever--life on Mars? One of Surveyor's very first discoveries may help answer the riddle. Mars has a weak magnetic field, an invisible force surrounding the planet, probably generated by molten iron churning beneath its surface. Mars' magnetic field is about 1/1,000 that of Earth's. A planet needs a strong magnetic field to hold on tight to its atmosphere, explains Mario Acuna, a physicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately 6.5 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland. If Mars did boast a far stronger magnetic field eons ago, the field probably fizzled as the planet cooled. But a once-stronger field means the planet may have also had a denser atmosphere to sustain life," Acuna says. In addition to cameras. Surveyor employs a host of high-tech gadgets wilder than those in Men in Black. A laser altimeter altimeter (ăltĭm`ĭtər, ăl`tĭmē'tər), device for measuring altitude. The most common type is an aneroid barometer calibrated to show the drop in atmospheric pressure in terms of linear elevation as an airplane, sends and retrieves pulses of light to measure mountain heights and canyon depths. A thermal emission spectrometer The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) is an instrument on board Mars Global Surveyor. TES collects two types of data, hyperspectral thermal infrared data from 6 to 50 micrometers (μm) and bolometric visible-NIR (0.3 to 2.9 μm) measurements. measures how much heat Martian rocks emit. Finally, Surveyor's magnetometer measures the strength of Mars' magnetic field. "Mars is very similar to Earth," says Acuna. The main reason to study Mars is to learn more about how our planet formed, and where it's going." Surveyor's Web site: http://marsweb.jpl. nasa.gov |
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