Transcript NASA Missions

NASA Missions
The Moon
APOLLO
(1963 – 1972)
Goal: To put a man on the Moon
Apollo 8 and 10: Orbited Moon
Apollo 11 – 17 (except 13):
Landed on Moon and returned
LEM
Command
Module
The Outer Planets
Voyager 1 and 2
(1977 – present)
Goal: To study the Outer
Planets; Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune
The Voyagers are now the most distant human-made objects.
Voyager 2 examined Jupiter and Saturn and then became the
only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus and Neptune.
Jupiter
Galileo
1989 - 2003
Goal: To photograph and study Jupiter and its Moons,
and follow-up on some of the discoveries of Voyager
Jupiter and Io
Io
Europa
aurora
volcano
Tvashtar New Horizons pic 2007
Asteroid Ida
and satellite
Galileo took over 14000 pictures of Jupiter, its Moons,
asteroids, the Earth and Moon
Saturn
Cassini
1997 - present
Goal: To photograph and study Saturn and its Moons
Saturn and Mimas
Huygens
Cassini carried the ESA lander Huygens, which
landed on the moon Titan in January, 2005
Mars
Mars Rovers
Spirit and Opportunity
(2003 – present)
Goal: To search for proof of water and signs of life
The Rovers landed on Mars in 2003 and have
found proof that water once existed on Mars.
They have taken over 60000 pictures, roamed the
planet, bored holes into rock and discovered what
it is made of
Curiosity
Huge Mars rover (weighs over a ton) launched 11/26/2011
Arrived August 2012
Asteroids
Dawn (Sept. 2007 -
)
Will orbit the two largest objects in the asteroid belt, Ceres and
Vesta. It went into orbit around Vesta in 2011. Dawn has an “Ion
Engine” which uses electromagnetism and Xenon gas to create
plasma. It has accelerated the ship to 78,000 mph. It carries a
camera and spectrometer.
Vesta 2011
Mercury
Mercury
Messenger
MErcury Surface, Space
ENvironment, GEochemistry
and Ranging
Launched: summer of 2004,
started orbiting Mercury in
2011
Goal: To map Mercury
Comets
Comet Missions
Stardust (1999 – present): In 2004, flew through the debris of
Comet Wild 2, collecting samples. It returned those to Earth
in January, 2006. Those samples included the amino acid
glycene, which is a building block of proteins.
Deep Impact (launched January, 2005): smashed a 820
lb. mass into comet Tempel 1 July, 2006, to observe
the impact, crater, and analyze the ejecta.
Pluto
New Horizons
Launched Jan. 2006.
Will arrive at Pluto in
2015. First spacecraft
ever sent to Pluto, it
will continue on to
study Kuiper Belt
objects through 2020.
Space
Observatories
SOHO the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
Carries 12 different scientific instruments, including spectroscopes,
an ultraviolet camera and a oscillation detector.
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Chandra
Looks at the Universe in X-rays
SN 1987a
Chandra
Hubble Space Telescope
Launched in 1990. Has a huge optical telescope, a wide
field camera, an infrared spectrometer and a
spectrograph
Hubble’s replacement:
James Webb Space Telescope
Expected launch 2018. Big optical telescope with
strong infrared capabilities
Fermi
Gamma ray Large Area Space Telescope
Launched in 2008. Studying gamma rays with a precision never
before seen over a wide viewing area, also allowing the
detection of “gamma ray bursts”.
WISE / NEOWISE
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
Launched in 2009. Took pictures of the whole sky in four different
bandwidths of infrared. It has identified hundreds of undiscovered
asteroids and comets, which could pose a threat to Earth. Put in
hibernation in 2011, reactivated in 2013 to look for NEOs.
WISE’s First Asteroid
1/22/10
Kepler
Searching a small area of the sky for planets
Launched March 2009. Continuously looking at 150,000 sun-like
stars for changes in the amount of light, which would indicate planets.
International Space Station
(2000 – present)
The goal is to have a manned presence in space
Space Shuttle
Designed to save money as a reusable launch vehicle into
space
Constellation & Ares
Back to the Moon
Ares carries cargo
2020?
Constellation carries
people to join up with
Ares