Jan 30 2008
From The Space Library
The People’s Republic of China’s Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense released the first photographs that China had captured of the Moon’s polar regions. The 2,350-pound (1,066-kilogram) Chang’e-1 lunar probe had taken the photographs. Chang’e-1 had been orbiting the Moon at an altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles) since 7 November 2007. On 4 January 2008, Chang’e-1’s cameras had adjusted, enabling them to photograph areas of the Moon above 70° north or south latitude. China intended the probe to produce a three-dimensional lunar-surface survey and to provide data and images for use in other experiments.
Xinhua News Agency, “Chang’e-1 Captures Pictures of Moon’s Polar Areas,” 31 January 2008, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/31/content_7532773.htm (accessed 14 December 2010).
In the final planned spacewalk for the Expedition 16 mission aboard the ISS, Commander Peggy A. Whitson and Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani successfully replaced the Bearing Motor Roll Ring Module, a motor on the starboard side of the ISS that had been malfunctioning since early December. The defect had caused the station’s solar panels to fail to pivot toward the Sun, reducing the ISS’s supply of electricity and threatening to compromise the ISS’s ability to support future Shuttle missions. The 7-hour spacewalk suffered a minor setback when a communication failure left the astronauts briefly without direct contact with Mission Control in Houston. Because of the risk of electrical shock while in contact with the panels, Whitson and Tani had to perform the repair work carefully. They were only able to work during the 33-minute intervals when the Earth eclipsed the Sun during the ISS’s rotation around the Earth. The astronauts completed the motor replacement in time to inspect an additional problem with the starboard solar panels—damage to gears from metal debris. Whitson and Tani collected samples of the debris to use in determining future repair plans.
Tariq Malik, “Spacewalkers Bring Space Station a Step Closer to Full Power,” Space.com, 30 January 2008, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080130-expedition16-eva5-wrap.html (accessed 9 December 2008).
NASA announced that scientists had begun to analyze data returned from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft’s flyby of the planet Mercury. The craft, which had flown more than 2 billion miles (more than 3 billion kilometers) since its launch in 2004, had swooped down to 124 miles (200 kilometers) above the planet’s surface, giving scientists the first close-up view of Mercury since Mariner 10’s flyby in 1975. MESSENGER’s seven data-collecting instruments had obtained 1,213 photographs depicting 30 percent of Mercury’s surface, as well as making observations of the planet’s magnetic field, mineral terrain, and exospheric tail. Among the most striking of the many findings from the photographs was a unique geographical feature, which the scientists dubbed “The Spider,” a 25-mile-diameter (40-kilometer-diameter) impact crater in the Caloris basin, radiating over 100 flat-bottomed troughs. NASA intended MESSENGER to begin orbiting Mercury in 2011. Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland had built MESSENGER and was managing the craft for NASA.
NASA, “NASA Spacecraft Streams Back Surprises from Mercury,” news release 08-027, 30 January 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jan/HQ_08027_Messenger_Mercury.html (accessed 24 November 2010); Warren E. Leary, “Pictures Reveal Mercury’s Tumultuous Past,” New York Times, 31 January 2008.
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