SPACE PROBE
Powerpoint
Report
The space
technology that I am going to explain is space probe (picture 1). Space probe is a
spacecraft that collects the information of other planets, asteroids and comets
without any astronomers. Every planet except for Pluto in our solar system has
been visited by space probes. Before the space prove was made, people were hard
to know what was exactly on space. However, by the space probes, the scientists
and human on earth became closer with the mystery of space.
There are three different types of space probes,
Interplanetary, Orbiters and Landers (picture 2). First, an Orbiter is a kind of space probe
which orbits around a planet. Usually the orbiter has cameras on it and takes
thousands of pictures which can show gravitational field. It sends them to
earth by the antennas on it. For instance, India’s space centre, the Satish
Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota succeeded to launch an orbiter space probe
which is orbiting Mars to find the possible methane in Mars’ atmosphere. Secondly,
the Interplanetary is the space probe that simply flies by planets. For
example, China succeeded to shoot an interplanetary probe, Yinghuo-1, for the
mars mission. Lastly, the Lander is the one which can land a part of the space
probe. It sends the information about the landscape which is more detail and spectacular
than the orbiter sends. Some of modern Landers can take some samples and return
back to earth.
There was one
major example of Landers, HAYABUSA (picture 3). It was made from JAXA which is Japanese. HAYABUSA’s
mission for going out of the earth was to bring a sample from an asteroid to
research about the mystery of the birth of the solar system. The reason to
bring the sample from an asteroid was that asteroids were believed as the
celestial fossils that could give human the record of the solar system. If
there was the soil sample of an asteroid, it could be the clue of the formation
of planets and asteroids in the formative years. Therefore, it was made to be
perfect on the goal asteroid, called Itokawa. On May 9th, 2003, HAYABUSA
launched and travelled the space by an ion engine. It achieved the goal by getting
the sample of Itokawa. On June 13th, 2010, it successfully sent the
result of its mission, the dust in a capsule, to Earth. It was the first success
to get the result back from the space proves which went to a place where was not
moon.
There are many different parts that work important
roles on the space probes to get enough information for space science. The
first components, the two parts that look like the solar panels, are MAG, the
magnetometer. It measures the magnetic, field strength and direction. The two antennas
are to be used for sending the information to the scientists on Earth. The body
part includes a lot of systems. The part called Virtis, which is the
abbreviation of Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer images the
spectrum when the ultraviolet, visible and infrared parts of the
electromagnetic spectrum is near by the space probe. The part called Planetary
Fourier Spectrometer works to measure the temperature of atmosphere and the
concentration of atmosphere constituents. There is also the camera called VMC.
It has wider angle than other cameras, so it can capture the ultraviolet, visible
and infrared radiation.
The benefits of
space probes are that they don’t necessarily need astronomers to be on them. As
the technology develops, the space probe will be able to observe much farther places
and it will be a massive puzzle piece to solve the curiosity of the mystery of
space.
References
"space probe" by National Geographic http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/space-probes/?ar_a=1
"Jet Propulsion Laboratory" by Susan Watanabe. Last udated in February 26th, 2010 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/spaceprobe-20100225.html
"Mission guide: Venus Express" Last updated in April 10th, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4350482.stm
"Satellites and Spacecraft; Asteroid Explore"HAYABUSA"(MUSES-C)" Last updated in June 26th,2013 http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/muses_c/index_e.html
"Successful Launch of India's First Interplanetary Probe a Major Milestone, Officials Say" by Tamarra Kemsley. Last updated in November 6th, 2013. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4780/20131106/successful-launch-of-indias-first-interplanetary-probe-a-major-milestone-officials-say.htm
"China's 1st interplanetary probe hits mars mission" by Z news. Last updated in January 20th, 2012. http://zeenews.india.com/news/space/china-s-1st-interplanetary-probe-hits-mars-mission_753748.html
"Jet Propulsion Laboratory" by Susan Watanabe. Last udated in February 26th, 2010 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/spaceprobe-20100225.html
"Mission guide: Venus Express" Last updated in April 10th, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4350482.stm
"Satellites and Spacecraft; Asteroid Explore"HAYABUSA"(MUSES-C)" Last updated in June 26th,2013 http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/muses_c/index_e.html
"Successful Launch of India's First Interplanetary Probe a Major Milestone, Officials Say" by Tamarra Kemsley. Last updated in November 6th, 2013. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4780/20131106/successful-launch-of-indias-first-interplanetary-probe-a-major-milestone-officials-say.htm
"China's 1st interplanetary probe hits mars mission" by Z news. Last updated in January 20th, 2012. http://zeenews.india.com/news/space/china-s-1st-interplanetary-probe-hits-mars-mission_753748.html