Hello this section of my webpage will be dedicated to information about NASA, Astronomy, and Space. NASA SELECTS MISSIONS TO MERCURY AND A COMET'S INTERIOR AS NEXT DISCOVERY FLIGHTS The first comprehensive mission to map pockmarked Mercury and a radical mission to excavate the interior of a comet have been selected as the next flights in NASA's Discovery Program. The Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging mission, or Messenger, will carry seven instruments into orbit around the closest planet to the Sun. It will send back the first global images of Mercury and study its shape, interior and magnetic field. Dr. Sean Solomon of the Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC, will lead Messenger. The Deep Impact mission will send a 1,100-pound (500- kilogram) copper projectile into comet P/Tempel 1, creating a crater as big as a football field and as deep as a seven-story building. A camera and infrared spectrometer on the spacecraft, along with ground-based observatories, will study the resulting icy debris and pristine interior material. Dr. Michael A'Hearn will lead Deep Impact from the University of Maryland in College Park. "These low-cost missions are both fantastic examples of the creativity of the space science community," said Dr. Edward Weiler, associate administrator for space science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. "Messenger is a flagship-quality effort that, in tandem with a separate Pluto mission, enables us to seize the opportunity to complete our historic initial reconnaissance of the Solar System. Deep Impact presents a special chance to do some truly unique science, and it is a direct complement to the other two comet missions already in the Discovery Program." Messenger, to be launched in spring 2004, will be NASA's first mission to Mercury since the Mariner 10 flybys in 1974 and 1975, which provided information on only half the planet. Its challenging flight plan begins with two Venus flybys, then two Mercury flybys in January and October 2008 and a subsequent orbital tour of Mercury beginning in September 2009. Among Messenger's goals will be to discover whether Mercury has water ice in its polar craters. The cost of Messenger to NASA is $286 million. It will be built and managed by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD. Further information about the mission is available on the Internet at: http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/MESSENGER Deep Impact will be launched in January 2004 toward an explosive July 4, 2005, encounter with P/Tempel 1. It will use a copper projectile because that material can be identified easily within the spectral observations of the material blasted off the comet by the impact, which will occur at an approximate speed of 22,300 mph (10 kilometers per second.) The total cost of Deep Impact to NASA is $240 million. Deep Impact will be managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, CO. NASA selected these missions from 26 proposals made in early 1998. The missions must be ready for launch no later than Sept. 30, 2004, within the Discovery Program's development cost cap of $190 million in Fiscal 1999 dollars over 36 months and a total mission cost of $299 million. The Discovery Program emphasizes lower-cost, highly focused scientific mission. NASA has developed six other Discovery Program missions. Two have completed their primary missions, two are operational and two more are under development: -- The Lunar Prospector orbiter has mapped the Moon's composition and gravity field for the past 18 months. It will complete its highly successful mission on July 31, when it is sent on a controlled impact into a crater near the south lunar pole. Scientists hope to observe a resulting plume of water vapor that would help confirm the presence of water ice in some of the Moon's permanently shadowed craters. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander, carrying a small robotic rover named Sojourner, landed successfully on Mars and returned hundreds of images and thousands of measurements of the Martian environment. -- The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is scheduled to enter orbit around the asteroid Eros in February 2000, after a problem with its initial attempt to do so early this year. The Stardust mission to gather samples of comet dust and return them to Earth was launched in February 1999. -- The Genesis mission to gather samples of the solar wind and return them to Earth and the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) mission to fly closely by three comets are being prepared for launch in January 2001 and June 2002, respectively. -end- * * * NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov, leave the subject blank, and type only "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message. NASA's Next El Nino Watcher Blasts Off: Yesterday, the QuickScat ocean winds satellite was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. QuikScat will provide scientists with daily, detailed snapshots of winds as they swirl above the world's oceans. As NASA's next "El Nino watcher," QuickScat will be used to better understand global weather abnormalities and to generally improve weather forecasting. Congress has recently made some changes to NASA's Internation Space Station Project. First of all, NASA can no longer give Russia money to build their part of the station. NASA's last share with Russia was $1 million dollars, and that was the last. Congress almost cut funding for the construction of the ISS, but we made through! Construction of the ISS will continue, but we can no longer help Russia out with their money problems. The picture above shows the layout of the only other known solar system in the universe. It was discovered by astronomers from four different institutes on or around April 13th 1999. The solar system has four members, one planet (B) which orbits very close to its host star. Another planet (C) that is twice the size of Jupiter and orbits its star at almost the same distance Venus does with the sun. The third and outmost planet (D) is the largest. It is four times the size of Jupiter and orbits its host star at the a little over the distance Jupiter does with the sun. The forth member is of course the sun-like host star, Upsilon Andromedae, which is located in the constellation Andromeda. This sun-like star is about 44 light years from Earth. The second planet (B), astronomers say, may be at the right the distance from its host star to POSSIBLY harbor carbon-based life. Although these rumors have not been "offically" confirmed. I'll update as I get new information. If you want to know more now check out Science @ NASA. NASA, at the moment, is trying to stop all the delays. The delays are slowing down the construction of the International Space Station, and testing the patience of many space lovers. NASA has scrubbed their last mission of 1999, which would take a crew to the ISS. Although, they have acquired a "micro-mission" to Mars. Go to the NASA Homepage for more information on the "micro-missions." Mars. I've heard rumors of a manned mission to the red planet. This is supposedly set for 2015, but this information has not yet been confirmed. NASA is currently planning many NEW missions to Mars. NASA will launch an orbiter and a lander in 2001. In 2003 & 2005 two more landers will be sent to Mars. Also in 2003, the European Space Agency (ESA) will send an orbiter called Mars Express to the red planet. The U.S.A's 2005 Mars mission will bring the ultimate "payoff." This will be the sample return mission. The samples will be returned to Earth in 2008. With samples in hand and half a dozen missions under their belt, scientists hope to finally answer the question of what happened to the martian climate and what it means to us on this fragile blue world. For more info on Mars mission check out the NASA Homepage. Ok here's some more info. The total number (so far) of extra-solar planets is 20. That is including two planets which are orbiting pulsars! Most of these planets have been discovered by "planet hunters" Geoffery Marcy and Paul Butler. Also, most of these planets fall perfectly into the "hot jupiter" catagory. Which means they are roughly the same size or larger than Jupiter and they orbit very close to their host star. For example HD 217107, a type G star, has a planet that orbits it at .07 AU (Astronomical Unit-distance from Earth to Sun, 96 mil. miles). NASA is currently constructing more "hubble-like" space telescopes that will "widen our view of the sky." The European Space Agency is building 4 huge telescopes that will work together to take magnificent pictures.