NASA Astronomers Compare Meteors to Spacecraft Re-entry (Jules Verne Reentry)
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:28:03 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2008/08_84AR.html
Rachel Prucey
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-0643
rachel.l.prucey@xxxxxxxx <mailto: rachel.l.prucey@xxxxxxxx>
Michael Braukus
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979
michael.j.braukus@xxxxxxxx <mailto:michael.j.braukus@xxxxxxxx>
Clare Mattok
European Space Agency, Paris
33-1-5369-7412
clare.mattok@xxxxxxx <mailto:clare.mattok@xxxxxxx>
Sept. 24, 2008
MEDIA ADVISORY : 08_84AR
NASA Astronomers Compare Meteors to Spacecraft Re-entry
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- A group of astronomers from NASA, the
European
Space Agency (ESA) and other institutions will take to the skies to
observe the re-entry of ESA's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV) as it falls back to Earth from the International Space Station
on
Sept. 29, 2008.
An Ames research aircraft will take off from Moffett Field, Calif.,
and
a Douglas DC-8 airborne laboratory will depart from NASA's Dryden
Aircraft Operations Facility at Palmdale, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 26,
2008 to fly more than 30 scientists and their instruments over the
South
Pacific Ocean in ideal and virtually unchanging conditions far above
light pollution and clouds.
NASA's primary goal during the lengthy airborne mission is to study
the
re-entry and fragmentation of ESA's "Jules Verne" ATV spacecraft to
gain
insight and find similarities to meteor fragmentation. This
observation
campaign is similar to the January 2006 Stardust and September 2004
Genesis spacecraft re-entry airborne campaigns, in which NASA
scientists
studied the levels of radiation, light and out-gassing of the
descending
spacecraft, to better understand meteor radiation mechanisms.
Another goal is to validate the computer models astronomers use to
predict how an object will fragment and disperse as it enters Earth's
atmosphere. NASA astronomers made similar airborne studies for the
January 2008 Quadrantid and September 2007 Aurigid meteor showers to
determine when they peaked and how they were formed.
Peter Jenniskens, the observation campaign principal investigator, at
NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute, Mountain View,
Calif.,
and Dave Jordan, observation campaign project manager, at NASA Ames
will
be available for telephone interviews, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PDT, Thursday,
Sept. 25, 2008. To schedule an interview please contact Rachel Prucey,
public affairs specialist, at 650-604-0643.
For more information on NASA and its programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
For more information about the âJules Verneâ airborne observation
campaign, visit:
http://atv.seti.org/
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