Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2003)
TTALI Dagel f t: i merate; 1 parties. 1 S. Rt filed for} tep. Ricfe edo; Ss s, R-l aig Estes.1 Sen. M were anti- e-election e won't ita current B e spanneei el Bivins, I by Presiils rassador : his resis SciIIech The Battalion Page 3A • Thursday, December 4, 2003 Visiting ‘the death planet’ New rovers prepare for dangerous landing on Mars By Andrew Bridges THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PASADENA, Calif. — After seven routine months of space- ;ht, NASA is bracing for six minutes of high anxiety in January, hen the twin rovers it launched earlier this year punch through the lartian atmosphere to land on the Red Planet. Each of the unmanned, $400 million rovers must be slowed from 2,000 mph to a complete stop within minutes after first plunging othe planet’s tenuous atmosphere. “Just getting to Mars is hard, but landing is more so,” Ed Weiler, id Perr-iBASA’s associate administrator for space science said Tuesday dur- lasseneii iganews briefing from Washington, D.C., that was broadcast to 9 andu« ie Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Landing the rovers safely requires the elaborately choreographed politicalfjlnd fast-paced use of heat shields, parachutes, rockets and air bags, expenenq t strong gust of wind, or a single sharp rock, could destroy either f filings]r both rovers. Two-thirds of all previous Martian missions have failed, includ- m ngthe last lander NASA launched, 1999’s Polar Lander. A second are m: lission, the Climate Orbiter satellite, also failed that year. •, spoke® artyoffei Just eight seconds before landing, the rovers will inflate enor- tous air bags, similar to those successfully used by 1997’s nty to sek dates m /ere k i presii i Teas# of state# Hot. ind the its iking mk :ar irtisan ibout k| athfinder spacecraft and the small Sojourner rover it carried, to ushion their arrival on the planet’s surface. “We could bounce about as high as a four-story building,” proj- : them r.: jet manager Peter Theisinger said. The first of the rovers. Spirit, is scheduled to land Jan. 3 in Gusev Irater, a Connecticut-sized basin that may have held a brimming ic raty,s!|ke after it formed 4 billion years ago. The second six-wheeled robot. Opportunity, should land Jan. 24, nthe far side of the planet in Meridiani Planum, where mineralog- al evidence indicates water once was present. The camera- and instrument-laden rovers are designed to analyze lartian rocks and soil for additional clues that could reveal whether Hie planet was ever a wanner, wetter place capable of sustaining life. “The easy parts of these missions are over. Now the tough part Dmes. Mars has been a most daunting destination. Some, including yself, call it ’the death planet,”’ Weiler said. Once the roving robotic field geologists have landed, NASA may hear from them again for nearly 24 hours. In the meantime, the ivers should begin surveying their surroundings. Even after the first pictures and data are received on Earth, it will ike each rover at least nine days to become ready to roll off its lan- lOts'H and begin exploratory work in earnest, project scientist Joy Lotto IsIfp said. Steve Squyres, the mission’s lead scientist, said any scientific pay- ^could be months away. Each mission is expected to last 90 days. “This isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon,” Squyres said. “The best tiff may come in February, March or April. It may take a while.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has taken ains to publicize the risk inherent in space exploration since the >ss of the 1999 Mars missions, as well as of the space shuttle blumbia and its crew earlier this year. It has also beefed up over- ight of how its spacecraft are designed, built, tested and launched. )t is tk Is ersaid. timaiesfe 21 it Greets ted to rtf into kill (Lit aid Ds 1 'pa G/rieaic i BRAZOS VALLEY WOMEN'S CENTER The Premier Day Spa for Men and Women tor h Ediw hirf :s EdiW ProducS naster j|y, Ms!! jwftJ*#: ieei®"* elaka/fif jftuaw*' AW*' isp**’! | f P** ■ iwd itf 1 * ill.* 1 , # „ Aesthetic Treatments • Fotofacials • Botox® ' • Permanent Hair Reduction • Sclerotherapy Skin Care • Organic & European Facials • Glycolic Peels • Waxing •. Microdermabrasion tail Care • Sea Clay Pedicures • Paraffin Manicures Body Treatments • Massage • Body Wraps Shedding light on solar storms The intense solar activity that erupted in mid-October could flare up again this week! possibly causing more electrical and radio disturbances on Earth. Astronomers have studied coronal mass ejections for decades and sunspots for centuries, but there is still much to learn about the solar phenomena’s relationships to each other and to Earth, sunspots j~ Millions of degrees surface of the ; .l| Solar flares sun that exist for , rj huge explosions days or weeks 4 ^ that usually occur Core — nuclear reactions generate energy Radiative zone photons transport energy outward from the core Corona the sun s outer atmosphere Magnetosphere magnetic field that shields Earth from solar wind Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) giant magnetically charged clouds 13 times the size of Earth Solar wind radiates from the sun at speeds of up to a million miles per hour, enveloping all the planets in our solar system; solar wind can carry magnetic clouds created by flares and CMEs The solar cycle The number of sunspots at any one time rises and falls in roughly 11-year cycles. With magnetic fields thousands of times stronger than Earth’s, sunspots are thought to affect solar activity and even Earth's climate. Sunspot number 180 *98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 Curiously, the recent rash of solar storms — some of the most powerful on record — occurred three years after the current cycle’s peak. SOURCE: NASA .. N. Rapp, P. SantlHf/AP “Now people ask me, can we guarantee success? Of course not. We cannot do that. But on the other hand, I would say the team deserves it. Because they have done everything humanly possible that we know about to be able to minimize the risk and enhance our pos sibility of succeeding,” JPL director Charles Elachi told reporters. The rovers are part of an international armada, including Japanese and European orbiters and a British lander, all en route to Mars. Two other NASA satellites are already in orbit around the planet. Winter in Aggielanv CraftfeUr vfu'd 'tfi uAsix~~j December 4, 10am - 6pm & December 5,10 am - 4 pm • 2nd Floor MSC • QueUicmp? Call the Student Programs . Office at 84S-1545 or visit http://hospitality.tamu.edu Get into the holiday spirit and join us for two days of shopping festivities! Hundreds of gift items will be available from Aggie Mom's clubs as well as local businesses. ^esenteeffcj, ($) IMTMJTV (k A SERVICE ORGANIZATION IT'S BUYBACK TIME! SELL YOU TEXTBOOKS AT LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORES GET 10% MORE $$$$ 3 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS: NORTHGATE, SOUTHGATE, WOLF PEN www.loupots.com Mars trip encountering numerous obstacles By David McHugh THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DARMSTADT, Germany — European space officials on Wednesday showed off the first pictures of Mars sent back by the Mars Express spacecraft as it heads for a Christmas rendezvous with the Red Planet. The blurry pictures, taken from 3.36 million miles away, show little more than part of a polar ice cap. Instead, the images prove the spacecraft’s German-made high-resolution camera is in working order before it begins orbiting Mars and snapping pictures close up. The camera test, performed Monday, was one of many checks and rehearsals ahead of a sequence of intricate navigational maneu vers starting Dec. 19. That’s when Mars Express will turn loose its British-built Beagle 2 lander toward the Martian surface on a mis sion to probe for signs of extraterrestrial life. Mars Express will then steer away from a collision with the plan et and on Dec. 25 will fire its main engine for about 30 minutes to put it into Martian orbit. “We will have to carry out some very precise navigational oper ations,” Gaele Winters, the European Space Agency’s director for technical operations and support, said at the agency’s mission con trol center in Darmstadt in western Germany. “You will understand there is a certain level of tension in the center.” Previous attempts to find signs of life have been inconclusive. Of 34 unmanned American, Soviet and Russian missions to Mars since 1960, two-thirds ended in failure. In 1976, twin U.S. Viking landers searched for life but sent back inconclusive results. Beagle 2 is not the only space craft heading to Mars. Two American Mars rover craft are due to arrive in January, and Japan’s trouble-plagued Nozomi orbiter, launched in 1998, continues on its way despite technical problems. The Mars Explorer, which cost about $345 million, is an attempt to demonstrate that Europe can have an effective space exploration program. The spacecraft, launched June 2 atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kazakhstan, has weathered solar eruptions that bom barded it with high-energy particles last month, temporarily dis rupting its computers. In another hitch, solar panels are only generating about 70 per cent of the electricity they were supposed to, but officials said that was not expected to derail the mission either. Flight operations director Michael McKay said controllers have been using computer simulations to rehearse how to deal with potential obstacles. If that happens, controllers figured out, the mission can use the craft’s smaller maneuvering rockets. “We have flown every possible contingency, and some impossi ble ones,” McKay said. The 143-pound Beagle 2 will use a robotic arm to gather and sample rocks for evidence of organic matter and water, while Mars Express orbits overhead. (979)693-9501 -^eyes Ima Sip; “My doctor said I need to take my contact lenses off every night, but I always cheat.” Ag E. Fann: “My doctor said with the latest technology I can sleep in my lenses for up to one month.” Once Again: Aggies Know Best Matthew T. Greene, O.D. TAMD ‘94 Student Specials Most insurance accepted Scott and White Provider Free LASIK consults 313 S. COLLEGE 846-33431 THUR5. ladies night ,25c Mixed Drinks 1 ’ 1.00 You-Call-lt Drinks > 9-11 pm M.50 Longnecks J All Ladies FREE till 11 pm!! FRI. LIVE! FRI., DEC. J™ CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED wl Special Guest Troy Johnson Doors open at 8:00p.m. Tickets available at Cavenders and Traditions Book Store For more information call 84B-3343