Chapter
1:
History and Overview of Present Status
Here is the work-script for Chapter 1
(slides)
8 September 2021
Welcome to the new term and
good luck!
On the first day we talked
about logistics and then looked at what will be covered in the
course.
We started with the course and covered part of Chapter
1. We talked about communication attempts with aliens and about Arthur Clarke. Click here for his
1945 article. Then we focused on
the history
of
communication satellites (click
also
here) that started after the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik.
10 September 2021
The
communications satellites,
Echo, Telstar-1,
the Intelsat
series, Molniya,
the ANIK series
and Iridium and Starlink are important to
remember. Then we talked about other
Earth-orbit satellites: remote sensing satellites like Radarsat,
Global Navigation Satellite Systems like, G P
S, Galileo,
GLONASS, BeiDou
and Research Satellites, like HST,
RadioAstron
and GP-B. See
the video that we made here in Toronto. We also mentioned the Kepler
mission and discussed techniques of how to find exosolar
planets.
We started to cover the topics of
Lunar spacecraft. Of particular interest are the LUNA program
of the USSR with LUNA-9 achieving the first soft landing
on the Moon. Pictures were broadcast. Series exploration started
again in the mid 90's with Clementine
that mapped most of the Lunar surface. It was followed by the Lunar
Prospector mission with the purpose of mapping the surface
and searching for polar ice. The Japanese spacecraft, SELENE,
is a moon-orbiting spacecraft launched in 2007. The Chinese
spacecraft Chang'e
4 landed on the Moon's far side in 2019. Rover has radar
for deep surface exploration. For
a full list of Moon endeavours, click here. Then we focused
on our Solar System and scaled it down so that the sun has a
diameter of only 1 cm. What
are the planet's sizes and distances from the sun? Here
is the answer and the approximate numbers on that scale are
relatively easy to remember:
Sun diameter: 1 cm. Then the distances of the planets from the Sun
are 1m for each 1AU (astronomical unit - distance of Earth from
the Sun). For Earth and Jupiter I list also the diameters on that
scale as examples.
Sun: 1m
Mercury: 0.4 m
Venus: 0.7 m
Earth: 1.0 m, diameter: 0.1 mm
Mars: 1.5 m
Jupiter: 5 m, diameter 1 mm
Saturn: 9 m
Uranus: 19 m
Neptun: 30 m
The nearest star, Alpha Centauri (with Proxima Centauri and its
planet Proxima Centauri B) would be 250 km away. That is roughly
the distance from here to Kingston.
We started looking at particular planets and missions to them. We learned about planet discoveries, for
instance a planet
outside of our solar system that could potentially sustain life.
We then talked about the Interplanetary Spacecraft. The latest is
a spacecraft to the Sun, launched 7 September 2018.
Sun: Parker Solar Probe
For each of the planets visited, particularly important spacecraft
missions are:
Mercury: Mariner
10 (1974) fly-by, pictures
Venus: Venera 3
landed, no data transmitted, USSR), Pioneer Venus 1 and 2, Venera
14, (1982, landed, colour pictures), Magellan (radar maps)
13
September 2021
Continuation on interplanetary
spacecraft.
Mars: Mariner
4, (1965, fly-by, pictures, USA), Mars 2 (1971, landed but
no data, USSR), Viking 1 (1976, landed and data transmitted),
Phobos 2, Mars Orbiter, Pathfinder,
Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars
Express, Exploration Rovers, Phoenix Mars
Mission, Curiosity Mission,
2021: Perseverance.
Ingenuity.
China's Tianwen 1 Mars mission with Zhurong
rover
Jupiter: Pioneer 10, (1973,
fly-by, pictures, USA)
Voyager 1 and 2, Galileo
Saturn: Pioneer 11,
(1979, fly-by, pictures, USA), Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini and
the Huygens
descent on Titan, ESA and
Cassini's
Saturn death plunge. or click
here.
Uranus: Voyager
2 (1986, fly-by, pictures, USA)
Neptune: Voyager 2,
(1989, fly-by, pictures)
Pluto: New
Horizons (2015, fly-by, USA)
Of particular interest is also Rosetta
(click also here)
and Europe's first interplanetary mission, Giotto
(ESA), which took pictures of Halley's comet in 1986.
The newest asteroid mission is NASA's OSIRIS-REx
launched on 8 September 2016. It mapped asteroid Bennu and is
taking samples back to Earth. Delivery time: Sept. 2023
Earth
seen from Voyager 1
Where is Voyager 1
now?
Voyager
1 in interstellar space.