M7+-+10

** STARSHINE: over the past 6 years 3 student satellites were built and sent into space. the little ball-like satellite had over 1000 reflective mirrors. the first of three satellites sent up was call Starshine 1. it was launched into space june 5, 1999. it orbited the earth 4212 times and could be seen clearly in the sky with the naked eye. It was in orbit til february 2000 when it was consumed by the heat due to atmosphereic drag. it orbited the earth every 90 minutes. Starshine 2 was the second of three satellites. it was destroyed much sooner then Starshine 1. Starshine 2 was launched december 16, 2001 and burned out in April 2002. The last satellite, Starshine 3, was launched into orbit September 29, 2001. it orbirted the earth 7,434 times and burned out. Each time NASA made a new satellite it got bigger and had more reflectors and was polished by more kids in more countries. Starshine 3 was destroyed january 21, 2003. Starshine 4 is currently being built. These were sent into space to monitor movement and study them.
 * Category 10 - Other Cool Stuff

STARDUST: the mission was to collect interstellar dust which helps us understand and learn what the early solar system was made up of. It could also provide evidence of how our solar system was created and even life itself. it was launched in february 1999 and collected comet dust. it can collect dust and particles from up to 300km and returned to earth in january 2006. Its main purpose was to collect and bring back extraterrestrial particles and dust so that scientist can study it. it was the fourth recovery mission launched by NASA. it orbited the sun three times and on its second time it met with a comet.

DEEP IMPACT: mission was launched November 1999 and took six years to complete (May 2001) The mission was to hit comet tempel 1 which orbited around the sun every 5.5 years and study the changes and path of the comet. it was discovered in 1867. there were two parts to the spacecraft that was sent. the flyby which monitored and recorded changes of the nucleus of the comet before and after the collision and to take pictues of it. The second part to the spacecraft was called a smart impact. it was a 3x3 foot object that weighed 870 lbs. after it was released it acted on its own and navigated itself into the path of the comet. the smart impact was realeased july 2005 when the flyby was close enough to record images before the collision.

DAWN: The dawn spacecraft was sent to asteriod Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres on an 8 year 3 billion mile journey. Dawn was sent to Vesta because it is a dry surfaced object that appears to be resurfacing. It was also sent to Ceres because the dwarf planet seems to have a primitive surface containing water-bearing minerals. The planet also shows signs of having a weak atmosphere and resembles icy moons of the outer solar system. this mission hopefully brings back evidence of early solar system formation and could even provide us with enough info to learn more about how our solar system was created and evolved. and compare the two objects. It was be launched september of 2007 and hopefully return july 2015. it will arrive at Ceres in february 2015.

GALEX: was launched april 2003. its main purpose and mission was to "map " the universe of galaxies including the milky way. it is an orbiting space telescope that observes everything in ultraviolet light across 10 million years of space history. it could also help us understand how galaxies like ours and others were formed and even study new stars. one more thing it will help us do is to discover new extraterrestrial objects to study in future missions. scientist predict that it will take about 29 months to complete the mission.

EPOXI: (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation) it is a "sequel" to the deep impact mission. scientists decided since deep impact was already roaming around in space they would use its telescope to observe other alien atmospheres and they sent it to another comet to study. once it was headed back to earth it will use the earth's gravitational pull to direct itself to comet Boethin (december 2008) in january 2008 while it heads to Boethin it will pass over 200 extrasolar (alien) planets to study. these planets are hard to study because the light from the star they orbit is so bright. in mid-december 2008 Epoxi will come within 700km of the comet Boethin. it will pass by at about 6 miles an hour giving it only 6 hours to observe it.

WMAP: (wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe) WMAP measures the composition of the universe. temperatures, density, light, etc. from the light it emanated it provides evidence that 13.7 billion years ago the universe use to be very dense but the more it expands the less dense it became and it got darker and darker. the dark energy density was a small factor way back then but now it is dominant and is what causes our universe to be so dark. it was launched in june 2001 and returned 2 years later in september 2003. this is one of the first and only spacecrafts to station at L2. every observation takes about 6 months and rotates every 3 months to keep its position at L2. it took 3 months to get to L2 because it used gravity boost from earth.

DEEP SPACE 1: was launched in october 1998. its main purpose was to test the new technology. (rocket engines, etc.) it orbited the sun and observed and took photographs of the asteroid Brialle and took some of the best pictures of the nucleus of the comet, Borrelly in september 2001. the mission was more than a success.

RIGHT-CLICK on these links to "Open in a new window"
 * Starshine || [|www.azinet.com/starshine] ||
 * Stardust || JPL & NASA Current ||
 * Deep Impact || JPL & NASA Current ||
 * Dawn || JPL & NASA Current ||
 * GALEX || NASA Current ||
 * EPOXI || NASA Current ||
 * WMAP || NASA Current ||
 * Deep Space 1 || JPL Past ||

JPL PAST Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past_missions.cfm JPL CURRENT Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm NASA CURRENT Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html