Sep 11 1998
From The Space Library
NASA researchers released images and temperature readings collected by Mars Global Surveyor. The images revealed that the Martian moon Phobos is covered in a layer of dust at least 3 feet (0.9 meters) deep, the result of the impact of meteoroids, occurring over millions of years. Surveyor's thermal emission spectrometer revealed that, on Phobos, the temperature changes from -170°F to -25°F (-112°C to -32°C) between night and day. Scientists explained that dust accounts for some of the moon's drastic temperature change, because Phobos does not have an atmosphere enabling it to trap heat. Therefore, the surface's small particles have only 7 hours to absorb heat from the Sun, losing heat rapidly after sunset. Images of landslides on steep crater slopes indicated that Phobos's gravity, even at just 1/1,000th of that of Earth, is sufficient to pull objects downward.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin appointed Arthur G. Stephenson, President of Oceaneering Advanced Technologies, as the new Director of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. MSFC's previous director had retired in January, and at that time, NASA had appointed MSFC's Deputy Director Carolyn S. Griner as Acting Director of the Center. Before his tenure at Oceaneering Advanced Technologies, Stephenson had worked 28 years for TRW Inc. of California. His last position was as Director of TRW Inc.'s Space Transportation and Servicing Advanced Programs. During his 34-year career, Stephenson had worked on various projects related to MSFC, including the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle, during the 1970s and 1980s; the Gamma Ray Observatory; automated rendezvous and docking; and the space-welding inspection, extravehicular-activity tool. He had also directed the International Space Station (ISS) robotic-system engineering support to the Boeing Company.
Associate Administrator for the Office of Space Science Wesley T. Huntress Jr. announced the selection of two small spacecraft to undertake the first missions of NASA's University-class Explorers program, designed to "provide frequent flight opportunities for highly focused and relatively inexpensive science missions." NASA had selected the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer spacecraft to study the "Local Bubble," a cloud of hot gas surrounding the solar system and extending approximately 300 light-years from the Sun. NASA selected the Inner Magnetosphere Explorer to study how Earth's Van Allen radiation belts respond to variations in the solar wind. NASA had scheduled both missions for 2001.
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