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Hot Topic
Exploration
Missions
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| Rebuilding the Biggest Building |
| Topic: Missions |
09/07/04 |
| One of the world's largest buildings sustained damage over the weekend as hurricane Frances pounded a natural scar on the face of a manmade wonder. Florida's Space Coast has witnessed many launches designed specifically to study and predict the damaging effects of hurricanes--one of the few storms so large that it can best be viewed from orbit. |
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| It's a Bird, It's a Planet |
| Topic: Missions |
08/22/04 |
| When the space station passes across the Sun or moon, the scene offers an interesting demonstration of how planet hunter's look for new candidates by measuring the periodic dimming of a parent star. |
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| Countdown Meets Perfect Storm |
| Topic: Missions |
08/01/04 |
| The early Monday morning launch of the first orbital mission to Mercury encountered a difficult weather pattern that scrubbed what operators call an 'instantaneous' launch window. Although the mission will extend to seven years until 2011, only twelve seconds are available to time a successful trajectory. |
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| Starfield of Dreams |
| Topic: Missions |
04/07/04 |
| Should we terraform Mars? What is the future of life on Earth? Will we ever find alien life? These are just a few of the questions addressed at the 2004 Astrobiology Science Conference. |
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| Interplanetary Internet |
| Topic: Missions |
12/26/03 |
| Dr. Vinton Cerf was one of the early researchers who worked on the embryonic web when it was called ARPANET; he is often referred to as one of the 'fathers of the internet'. He also has outlined the requirements for a future interplanetary internet. |
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| Calibrating the Moon |
| Topic: Missions |
11/11/03 |
| If amateur astronomers can just drag their telescopes to a dark, clear spot and set-up a night's observation, the calibration of the world's largest radio telescope is not quite so straightforward. |
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| Location, Location, Puerto Rico is Listening |
| Topic: Missions |
11/07/03 |
| Twice a year, every spring and autumn, a SETI team travels to the coast of Puerto Rico. Their journey is one hundred times faster than the one that Columbus first set out on--500 years ago. |
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| Metal in the Meadow |
| Topic: Missions |
10/07/03 |
| Dave DeBoer, Project Engineer for Allen Telescope Array, discusses what the unique telescope will offer. The Allen Telescope Array is marked by many innovations crafted with express purpose of building a world-class state-of-the-art astronomical facility at a price of existing radio telescopes. |
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| Infrared Eyes Set For the Sky |
| Topic: Missions |
08/20/03 |
| A new Sun-circling telescope will reveal the universe with infrared eyes. Unlike what the Hubble Space Telescope shows in visible light, this Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will look for heat. The longer, infrared wavelengths can penetrate dust and gas clouds that otherwise obscure. |
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| Messages in a Bottle |
| Topic: Missions |
04/15/03 |
| Selected from tens of thousands of questions posed to Astrobiology Magazine, the best ones are culled in a reader dialog that helps guide new areas to explore. Key questions continue to center on some of the most extreme conditions on earth, and the chances for liquid water elsewhere. |
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