Spirit Flexes Its Arm on Mars

Raw Images
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Cool Animations
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/video/animation.html

Spring 2004 Courses

Courses for physics and engineering majors this semester include PHY 108, 131, 132, 241, 242, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Electricity and Magnetism, Seminar, and research courses. Physics or engineering majors usually take 1 or 2 math courses each semester as well. If you have any difficulty registering for classes or need some advice, then feel free to contact us. I just found out that from the registrars office that "any student who is completely unpaid will be dropped from his classes tonight". So let me know if you need assistance getting back into courses.

Space News in 2004

"The year's excitement began January 2 with the Stardust spacecraft visiting a comet and grabbing a sample of dust ejected by the comet - about two years from now, Stardust will drop a capsule containing this first-ever sample of comet dust to a landing site in Utah. Visit the Stardust web site at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/.

The Spirit rover has started to roll today on Mars! If you haven't already done so, you should definitely check out the rover web site at http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html.

The Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope has just begun to return gorgeous pictures of star birth and much more. See them at http://sirtf.caltech.edu/. Of course, keep in mind that the colors are arbitrary, since Spitzer records infrared light that is invisible to our eyes.

After a journey of some seven years, the Cassini spacecraft is fast approaching Saturn, and will enter orbit of the ringed planet this summer. Be prepare to be amazed! Follow the action at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm.

Another Mars landing coming up on Saturday! The Opportunity rover will land on Mars on Saturday night (Jan. 24), 10pm Colorado time. More information on the Mars rover home page http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/home/index.html or watch NASA TV Online for updates http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram.

This past weekend, NASA announced that it is cancelling next year's planned Shuttle mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. This decision will reduce the telescope's life by several years at least, and is devastating to astronomers --- particularly to my colleagues at CU's Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, who have been building one of the new instruments that would have been installed on Hubble during the now-cancelled mission. More on this below..."

Jeff Bennett also speaks about Going Back to the Moon here: http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/news/2004/Bennett20040119.htm

Contributors Links

Research Experience for Undergraduates at UNLV
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/reu/

Video of a Huge Arcing Power Substation
http://observe.phy.sfasu.edu/courses/ast105/lectures105/99-Interesting/Arcing.mp2

Weapons of Math Instruction
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Div/Winchester/jhhs/math/humor/mathweap.html

Orbiter Photographs Viking 1 and Pathfinder Landers on Mars' Surface
http://space.com/scienceastronomy/mgs_mpf_viking_040107.html

The Sun's Twin
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/06/sun.twin.reut/index.html

Trapped on a Gravastar
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/gravastars_020423.html

Discovery: A planet that heats its sun
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/08/hot.planet.ap/index.html

SFA Moon Phase Calendar - Fun with JavaScript
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/observatory/SFAMoonPhases/SFAMoonPhases.html

"We go to the moon..."

"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

"It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency." - JFK, September 12, 1962

Top 100 Speeches (Audio Files)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

"America will return to the Moon as early as 2015"

"First, America will complete its work on the International Space Station by 2010, fulfilling our commitment to our 15 partner countries. The United States will launch a re-focused research effort on board the International Space Station to better understand and overcome the effects of human space flight on astronaut health, increasing the safety of future space missions.

"To accomplish this goal, NASA will return the Space Shuttle to flight consistent with safety concerns and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The Shuttle's chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the Station, and the Shuttle will be retired by the end of this decade after nearly 30 years of service.

"Second, the United States will begin developing a new manned exploration vehicle to explore beyond our orbit to other worlds -- the first of its kind since the Apollo Command Module. The new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, will be developed and tested by 2008 and will conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014. The Crew Exploration Vehicle will also be capable of transporting astronauts and scientists to the International Space Station after the Shuttle is retired.

"Third, America will return to the Moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for more ambitious missions." - GWB, January 15, 2004

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/space/vision.html

Department News
   *  Department News Archive
   *  Seminar Schedule
   *  Department of Physics and Astronomy
   *  Engineering at SFA

Thanks to Kris Byboth, Chris Dahl, Heather Dalton, and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.

Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu