What are the significant things happening in the space, what to watch out for?

For example, in August 2005 you can see Mars as big as the Moon, what else is there in the coming years to watch in the day sky or night sky?

__________________
afbS

Actually, no, you won't be able to. Mars never appears that big, and it has already passed as close to Earth as it will for quite a while. There's a thread about it on the board somewhere, and I'm sure that it's mentioned on the main site, but I'm afraid that I just can't find the references.

Added: Here's the thread.

__________________
Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

12th August 2005 Perseid shower

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of March 14 is the first lunar eclipse of 2006

partial Lunar Eclipse 17th Oct 2005


7th Sept 2005 Moon pases half a degree South of Venus

Total Solar Eclipse of March 29 2006

Annular Solar Eclipse of 2008 Feb 07

http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...amp;highlight=

mission to Venus - Venus Express.

next Hubble could be JWST, the JWST is a large scape scope for infra red NASA / ESA have plans for this super space telescope

Pluto-Kuiper Belt Express.

China has been working with Europe's ESA on double-Star, Cnsa might do some more manned flight and Chang'e 1 might be coming soon

2014: Rosetta goes into orbit around Tschurjumow-Gerasimenko (gee, for German tongue, that name is a PR desaster. Wirtanen would have been a smoothy ;-))
Philae lands on Tschurjumow-Gerasimenko

Old Europeans doing it softly 8)

__________________
"Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too." - John Young, astronaut

Somehow I don't think he's interested in 'normal' astronomical phenomena.

I'm pretty sure that you asked this question in another thread, and were answered by plenty of people - this just shows you do not even bother to read over the topics you have started. Now is the time to show some respect, mate; go back over those posts now and READ what people have replied with, and answer with gratitude or I think we won't be seeing much of ya in the future.

with regards

__________________
All words, phrases, definitions and theories provided in the above post are, unless otherwise stated, the property of Champion Munch © 2005.

Sign up to sue the Sun

From the FAQ
username24 has done this about 20 times.

Yup --- see here, though to be fair one has to search a bit in the posted reply to find Moose's comment debunking the "Mars as big as Moon" claim.
Pretty close. 20 total threads started, with only 30 total posts. Looks like he/she has replied to only about 6 or 7 of the threads. And never to a thread he/she didn't start.

For any lurkers, just the numbers re this:

At a very good opposition, Mars may appear to cover an angle of around 25 arcseconds in the sky. Most of the time, it is considerably smaller. (One of the real problems showing Mars through a telescope is that people expect to see something like the images from the Mars Global Surveyor. Doesn't happen! #-o )

The moon on average appears to cover about 1800 arcseconds of the sky. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but not much.

So at its best, Mars can only ever appear about 1/72nd the apparent size of the moon in the sky.

__________________
"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

Here's what I know of future missions


Venus Express will study our nearest planetary neighbour, the ESA Venus Express is a follow on from the Mars Express mission. The mission was born after ESA asked for proposals, in March 2001, suggesting how to reuse the design of the Mars Express spacecraft. Hyper will use a new type of instrument known as cold-atom interferometer to provide new constraints on the limits of Einstein's theory of General Relativity and on the value of the fine structure constant that describes the strength of the electromagnetic force. Hyper is a mission that will investigate two of the fundamental forces of nature: gravity and electromagnetism. For its investigation into gravity, Hyper will precisely map the fabric of space around the Earth, strictly testing Albert Einstein's theory of gravity: General Relativity. Corot will be the first mission capable of detecting rocky planets and astronomers from ESA's Member States are taking part in a French led mission to be the first to search for rocky planets around other stars. Corot will be placed on a circular orbit allowing continuous observation for more than 150 days of two regions in the sky.


JAXA with the Japanese Hayabusa it is due to rendevous with the asteroid Itokawa (1998SF36) NASDA or JAXA have other plans Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle or HTV seems to be on track. Japan plans to start building a manned base on the moon and a space shuttle within the next 20 years newspaper reports have said. Solar-B, is a follow-on to the highly successful Japan/US/UK Yohkoh or Solar-A. It is also likely that Japan will take part in the mission for Europe's twin BepiColumbo orbiters at Mercury. The Japanese have also recently launched the JapanAstro-E2 Satellite, Suzuka, is a replacement for the Astro-E satellite, which was destroyed because of a launch failure in 2000, innovative instrumentation on board the satellite will explore the Universe in energetic x-rays. Once it's operational, Suzuka will help astronomers understand the evolution of galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centres. Japanese HTV launches to the ISS are planned in 2009 and 2010 for cargo lifts to the space station. Hayabusa Muses-C is planned to return back to Earth with Asteroid samples in 2007.


Russia is touting the Klipper spacecraft as a replacement for their workhorse spacecraft, the Soyuz and in 2007 a Soyuz launcher will take off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Russia put the first satellite in Space in 1957, year 2007 could be a big event for them detailed discussions on the elements of a future ESA-Roscosmos Space Cooperation Plan have taken place between ESA and Roscosmos. This will be an historic event as it will be the first time that a Soyuz launcher lifts off from a spaceport other than Baikonur or Plesetsk. US-Shuttle going to make a comeback but its career must end in 2010 and ISS will be assembled, but for manned flights the Russian project Kliper due might be an answer for Europe. Russian government has approved a space programme for the next 10 years.The programme provides money for the development of a reusable spacecraft to replace the ageing Soyuz manned launch vehicle. Russia also wants to start experiments to test whether it is possible for humans to make the flight to Mars. Under the plans, six volunteers will spend 500 days in a mock space module in Moscow. Over 20 volunteers have already applied to take part.


The USA will see New-Horizons go on a 15 year trek to study Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects, and additional elements of the spacecraft and instrument payload were installed on the New Horizons spacecraft. These included an array of heaters, inertial measurement units, a repaired flight computer, and the Ralph remote sensing instrument package. New Horizons will fly over Mysterious Pluto, Congress gave NASA money for a mission to Pluto over the space agency's objection. The bill, signed by President George W. Bush, placed $110 million in NASA's 2003 budget for the New Horizons project. The money allowed the spacecraft design team to start on the final design of the interplanetary probe. The USA will launch the MRO in 2005, Lockheed Martin will build the orbiter bus and be responsible for integrating and testing six science instruments and two engineering payloads. Lockheed Martin will also provide spacecraft operations support for the five-and-a-half year mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will search for signs that water once flowed on the red Planet. USA have an Asteroid mission called DAWN, will fly past a few small asteroids before changing speed to orbit one of the largest asteroids – Vesta. There, it will change speeds several times to vary the orbit for different science observations. Cameras and sensors will map the surface and gather clues to its mineral composition. After a year’s exploration, Dawn will change speed once more to leave Vesta and fly by another small asteroid, or possibly orbit the largest asteroid – Ceres. Dawn is a mission to explore the structure and composition of Ceres and Vesta, two large asteroids that have remained relatively unchanged since their formation at the dawn of our solar system. The mission is expected to launch in 2006.
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...amp;highlight=
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...amp;highlight=

Chinese plans for lunar landing and Moon exploration. Chinese exploration of the solar system have also featured in media reports. China's second manned space flight will carry two astronauts into space and will orbit the Earth for five days. The country's space authorities made the announcement about the mission. China Daily reports : "For the first time, astronauts will enter and live in the orbital module of the spacecraft to do scientific experiments," the China Aerospace Science and Technology (CAST) group's official statement said


ESA's Vega has been designed as a single body launcher with three solid propulsion stages and an additional liquid propulsion upper module used for attitude and orbit control, and satellite release. Unlike most small launchers, Vega will be able to place multiple payloads into orbit.
Development of the Vega launcher started in 1998. The first launch is planned for 2007 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana where the Ariane-1 launch facilities are being adapted for its use. Rosetta 10 years to get to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, it will fly past Mars in February 2007, and two more Earth flybys: November 2007 and November 2009. One of the ingenious instruments on board ESA's Rosetta is designed to 'smell' the comet for different substances, analysing samples that have been 'cooked' in a set of miniature ovens. Detecting ions, or charged particles from either solar wind or comet tails, is one goal for the comet-chasing space probe, Rosetta. The instrument to register these charges has passed its in-flight test and seems ready for the next decade of landing on a comet.



Russia is to build a space launch pad in South Korea by 2007, Itar-Tass news agency reported, Russian space agency Roskosmos and Khrunichev said that a contract covering "construction of a rocket launch pad for civilian use and space exploration" was signed by both countries. South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology said that South Korea intends to spend 13 million dollars on dispatching its first spaceman to the ISS on board the Russian space ship Soyuz. Russia has laos plans for Venus, the Moon and Mars. Russian mission Phobos-Grunt has been given high priority, the Phobos-Grunt is a planned Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. On the Soyuz fly me to the Moon the idea is to sell one of three Soyuz seats to a space tourist for an initial week-long stay at the International Space Station (ISS). The space sightseer and fellow crew members would then add to their travelogue by sojourning onward for a week-long lunar stint. The Russians have already been pushing Space Tourism and other scinece missions like the Ptaneta-A program and Aster projects are under consideration and Roscosmos have Venus lander designs called Venera-D.


The USA will see the launch of STEREO in 2006 making a 3D map of the structure of the Sun. Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission will address the origin, evolution and interplanetary consequences of one the most massive disturbances in our solar system called the coronal mass ejection (CME).The USA will send up Phoenix in 2007 and Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in 2009. Space probes take an amazing amount of data in but must then transmit it to Earth using radio (with limited bandwidth). One way to overcome this is the proposed Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (scheduled for a launch in 2009), which would use lasers to relay data to Earth from Mars. This would enable the transmission of 10,000 times more data than current levels. A company based in Colorado is helping to build part of the package of instruments scheduled to be deployed in 2008 on the Mars-bound Phoenix Lander. America may also see the launch of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer IBEX a mission to study the edges of the solar system, JIMO to Jupiter's Moons and the Neptune Orbiter with Probes part of NASA's "Vision Missions" would be a nuclear-fission powered exploration craft to Neptune
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=19248


The ESA Planck mission will collect and characterise radiation from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) using sensitive radio receivers operating at extremely low temperatures. Planck will look back at the dawn of time, close to the Big Bang, and collect the most ancient radiation in the Universe, known as the cosmic microwave background. Planck will help provide answers to one of the most important sets of questions asked in modern science - how did the Universe begin, how did it evolve to the state we observe today, and how will it continue to evolve in the future? BepiColombo a joint Japan and European mission will set off in on a journey lasting up to four years and two months to arrive at Mercury. European Space Agency is working an ambitious new space observatory that will be capable of precisely mapping a billion stars in our galaxy. Called Gaia, the spacecraft will launch in late 2010 or early 2011 and observe the sky for a period of five years. Gaia will observe at the L2 point which is located directly behind the Earth as seen from the Sun. The baseline is as usual, the diameter of Earth's orbit. Astronomers will compile this detail into a 3D map of a billion stars, including their position, motion and even composition. Estimates suggest that Gaia will detect between 10 000 and 50 000 planets beyond our Solar System. ESA is looking for number crunchers to lend them a hand and wants computer whizzes to submit "letters of interest" in joining the project.


The United States will launch Mars Sample Return Orbiter in 2015, the most difficult step in the robotic exploration of Mars is the Mars Sample Return Mission. NASA plans to send a major mission to return samples of Martian rock and soil to Earth. Current plans call for such a large-scale sample return mission to be launched in 2014, and a second in 2016. The next Hubble for Ameria might be the JWST, Canada is to build key component of NASA's next giant space telescope. This major new observatory will take over where Hubble, Spitzer, and other space telescopes leave off. When launched in 2011, JWST will peer into the past to greater distances than ever before. The next big cooperative effort scheduled between ESA and NASA in space science is the James Webb Space Telescope, which NASA has tentatively scheduled for launch in 2011. To Mercury the USA will be getting new information with Messenger, launched 2004 and will arrive in 2011. Northrop Grumman Guidance System is keeping MESSENGER on course to Mercury. MESSENGER is now millions of miles/kilometres from Earth; however, it will fly by Earth in August 2005
http://www.thespacesite.com/communit...showtopic=1664
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...amp;highlight=
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...amp;highlight=

that is only a fraction of the stuff going on with space projects but
missions are sometimes re-designed, axed or re-named so just keep an eye on the current topics

ESA's Gaia
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120377_index_0_m.html
NASA's T.P.F
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_what_is.cfm

From today until 2020, 35 solar eclipses will be occurred, of which, 12 are partial, 10 are total, 12 are annular, 1 is hybrid.

From today until 2020, 37 lunar eclipses will be occurred, of which, 15 are penumbral, 9 are partial, 13 are total.

From today until 2020, 5 transits of Mercury from Venus, 3 transits of Mercury from Earth, 4 transits of Mercury from Mars, 1 transit of Venus from Earth will be occurred.

And some remarkable unmanned space missions will be launch:
* Venus Express (2005)
* New Horizons (2006)
* Phoenix (2007)
* Mars Science Laboratory (2009)
* Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (not until 2017)

And some manned space missions such as the manned moon program will be launch.

__________________
http://www.yaohua2000.org/

JIMO was cancelled.

There will be probably several non-science lunar probe missions preparing the manned landing before 2018.

__________________
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

The 2012 Venus transit will be one of the cool things to look forward to, it's always nice to have a situation where you can actually point at something everyone can see, it's a great way to show the difference between astronomy and astrology.

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

MRO is almost at Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
the Pluto mission is on its way
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/

ESA are doing the exoplanet mission Corot and comet mission Rosetta is still going
Rosetta Launched
Cosmic Vision 2015 - 2025: The Universe
14 Feb 2006
Theme 4 - How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=38658
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=38646
Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: Planets and Life
20 Jan 2006
Theme 1 - What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life?

Russians are building a new space shuttle
New Russian Shuttle?
Russia will soon be lauching Soyuz from French Guiana in South America

and now for some bad news

Space agency's 2020 vision shortsighted, say campus astronomers
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkele...05_space.shtml
...At least two NASA projects with which Berkeley scientists are involved have been less fortunate. NuSTAR, a space-based X-ray telescope proposed by the California Institute of Technology and approved by NASA — and to which the campus's contribution was to be relatively small — has been canceled. Berkeley astronomer Geoffrey Marcy, however, has played a significant role as an investigator for the Terrestrial Planet Finder, a project designed to search for habitable, Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. The Caltech-led TPF was scheduled for launch between 2012 and 2015, but has now been "deferred indefinitely" by NASA.

Lin, the principal investigator for RHESSI, says the Explorer program has produced "unequaled science per dollar." He's particularly concerned about the agency's scaling back of its competitions for project proposals. The last opportunity for universities to submit proposals came in 2002, and the next one now appears unlikely until 2008.

"The scary effect is, what about in the future?" Lin says. "We're very successful at this. And not having the opportunity to compete in the future, for at least several more years, will be a serious blow to us."






NASA chief seeks truce in budget battle
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12213567/
Space science and exploration should go hand-in-hand, Griffin says

Just some more academics trying to make Griffin's life miserable.

China works out robot series for lunar exploration
http://english.people.com.cn/200504/...19_181808.html

NASA ECLIPSED BY CHINA MOON PLANS?
Author Leonard David
http://www.livescience.com/blogs/200...na-moon-plans/
Word on the floor here at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado is look for a shakeup in NASA’s lunar robotics efforts. Both the over-budget Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) for 2008 and follow-on Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP) are trouble-plagued.
Meanwhile, NSS participants heard today from several speakers more concern about the growing China space capability. For example, Jim Kennedy, Kennedy Space Center chief, likened China’s blossoming space skills as the making of another space race akin to the U.S.-Soviet Cold War rivalry in space decades ago.


The top man at Russia's leading space firm has mooted an ambitious expansion of the country's space effort. President of Energia corporation Nikolai Sevastianov said manned missions to the Moon and Mars were on the cards by 2030.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04..._mars_mission/
He said: "We can land on the Moon before 2015". His plan is to start mining the Moon for the 1m tons of potential fusion fuel helium-3 scientists say it has. They say this would be enough to power Earth for 1,000 years, and one experts estimates its value at $4bn per ton. This would easily offset the cost of mining it, Sevastianov said.

During the next stage, Energiya plans to employ a reusable craft now under development called the Clipper.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...12?hub=SciTech
The Clipper, which will have six seats compared to Soyuz's three, would be capable of delivering crews to the space station and could also become the basis for future moon missions.

Russia to launch lunar project with an eye on Mars
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/article...sid=27&sid=ENV

The next transit of Venus occurs in June 2012.
http://www.transitofvenus.org/

Woo-woos will look at a Mayan chart and say 2012 si the end of the world

Annular solar eclipse is on the 20th of May 2012

QinetiQ Wins Don Quijote Mission Study Contract
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Qi..._Contract.html
by Staff Writers
Hampshire, England (SPX) Apr 10, 2006
A consortium led by British aerospace company QinetiQ has won a 450,000 Euro contract from ESA to design a satellite mission that could be used to deflect an asteroid threatening Earth.

Making the case for Ariane 6
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/500/1