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Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon
Goswami, Jitendra Nath; Annadurai, Mylswamy
Chandrayaan-1 is the first Indian planetary exploration mission that will perform remote sensing observation of the Moon to further our understanding about its origin and evolution. Hyper-spectral studies in the 0.4- 3µm region using three different imaging spectrometers, coupled with a low energy X-ray spectrometer, a sub-keV atom analyzer,…
The microbial case for Mars and its implication for human expeditions to Mars
Horneck, Gerda
Mars is considered as key target for the search of life beyond the Earth. As well as carbon based chemistry and an adequate energy source, water in liquid phase has been considered a prerequisite for habitability. By analogy with terrestrial extremophilic microbial communities, e.g., those thriving in arid, cold, salty environments and/or those ex…
The MESSENGER mission to Mercury: Status after the Venus flybys
Solomon, Sean C.; McNutt, Ralph L., Jr.; Grant, David G. +2 more
NASA's MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft, launched on 3 August 2004, is well into its voyage to initiate a new era in our understanding of the terrestrial planets. The mission, spacecraft, and payload are designed to answer six fundamental questions regarding the innermost planet during three flyb…
Rosetta in the year of the swing-bys
Montagnon, Elsa; Ferri, Paolo; Accomazzo, Andrea +1 more
The International Rosetta Mission, a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency Scientific Programme, was launched on 2nd March 2004 on its 10 years journey towards a rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Once reached the comet nucleus in summer 2014, Rosetta will orbit it for about 1.5 years down to distances of a few kilometres and …
The Rosetta video approach: An overview and lessons learned so far
Zender, J.; Schwehm, G.; Wilke, M.
After an interplanetary cruise of 10 years, the Rosetta spacecraft and Philae lander, will arrive in 2014 at comet Churyomov-Gerasimenkov. All involved parties are aware of the knowledge decrease during these years and the potential complications that might arise during problem resolution before or during cometary operations. The Rosetta Science O…
The role of mud volcanoes in the evolution of Hecate Tholus Volcano on the surface of Mars
Kangi, Abas
Hecate Tholus Volcano has undergone numerous changes in its history of evolution. Further, the phenomena occurring on the surface of this volcano endow us with a remarkable perspective of recent martian geological changes. In the vicinity of this volcano cone, most of the lava is covered with a thick layer of loose sediments (probably clay). The p…
SMART-1 operations experience and lessons learnt
Camino, Octavio; Alonso, Maria; Gestal, Daniel +8 more
SMART-1 is the first of a series of ESA Small Missions for Advance Research and Technology where elements of the platform and the payload technology have been conceived as a demonstration for future cornerstone missions and an early opportunity for science. SMART-1 has also been an opportunity to experiment with new ways of conducting ground opera…
The Cassini Mission at Saturn
Mitchell, Robert T.
The Cassini Mission to Saturn, a joint undertaking by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency, is now at about the mid-point of its planned four-year tour of the Saturnian system. Close encounters with Titan and the smaller icy satellites are occurring on schedule, and observations of these bodies along with Saturn's atmosphe…
Rosetta Lander—Philae: Implications of an alternative mission
Rosenbauer, H.; Hilchenbach, M.; Ulamec, S. +5 more
“Rosetta” is a Cornerstone Mission of the Horizon 2000 ESA Programme. Its goal is to rendezvous with a comet and to study its nucleus and coma using an orbiting spacecraft and a landed platform. The latter is called Philae; the Rosetta Lander has been designed to land softly on the comet nucleus and is equipped with 10 scientific instruments to pe…
Mission operations for the new Rosetta
Ferri, Paolo
The International Rosetta Mission, a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency Scientific Programme, was scheduled for launch in January 2003 on Ariane 5, but it missed its 19 days launch window due to the suspension of Ariane 5 launches following the failure of flight 517 in December 2002. The search for a new mission opportunity started i…