________________________________________ Subject: [IOTAoccultations] Obs. sought of engine burns of Phobos-bound spacecraft Nov. 8/9, S. Amer., Carib., Bermuda The Russian Space Research Institute has requested optical (video or CCD) observations of two critical engine burns that will be performed by their Phobos-Soil mission that plans to return soil samples from Phobos. The first engine burn will occur on Nov. 8 from 22:55.8 to 23:05.3 UT and will be visible only from the southeastern part of Brazil, fortunately the most populous part of the country with many observatories. The spacecraft will be at an altitude of about 240 km at the start of the burn, and will be 280 km high at the end. The second burn, on the next orbit at higher altitude, will be visible over a larger area, including the Amazon region and all of northwestern South America, including northernmost Chile (the max. altitude will be 8 deg. at Cerro Paranal), as well as Panama (max. alt. 1 deg. at San Jose, Costa Rica), much of the Caribbean Sea area (max. alt. 28 deg. at San Juan, PR but only 4 deg. at Miami, FL) and Bermuda (max. alt. 16 deg.). The second burn starts on Nov. 9 at 1:02.8 UT (alt. 580 km) and ends at 1:20.2 UT (alt. 1060 km). A map showing the ground track of the spacecraft, with the engine burn segments highlighted, is in a Power Point (.ppt) file provided by the Space Research Institute and posted by Derek Breit at http://www.poyntsource.com/New/Dunham.htm . Predictions of the path in the sky for your observing site can be computed from the JPL Horizons Web site at http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi - for the object, click on [change] next to "Target Body", then select the "spacecraft" tab under "choose from a list of:", and then select "Phobos-Soil" (object -555). Under Table settings, select "astrometric RA & DEC)" and "apparent AZ & EL"; other quantities are optional. Pay attention to the EL column, since negative values mean it's below your horizon. For the time interval, use 5 or 10 seconds since its motion will be rapid. Currently, the ephemeris on the Horizons Web site ends very soon after Nov. 9 at 01:20 UT (near or at the end of the 2nd engine burn), so you must specify an end time of Nov. 9 at 01:20 UT or earlier; otherwise, the calculation will fail and you will obtain no tabular output. The spacecraft will probably be rather faint by itself (but maybe 5th or 4th mag. during its low orbit) but the engine burns will probably be visible naked eye, at least with binoculars. We have requested a longer predicted ephemeris since the spacecraft should be visible by reflected sunlight when it's not in shadow with telescopes for one or two days after the launch, and for another day or two with large telescopes. If weather or other problems develop at the Bainonur launch site, there are backup launch opportunities the next two days. David ____________ Header information about Phobos-Soil from the JPL Horizons Web site gives more information: Revised: Oct 10, 2011 Phobos-Soil Spacecraft -555 http://www.russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt.html BACKGROUND: This trajectory is a planning version that assumes Phobos-Soil launch will occur 2011-Nov-8 23:25 UTC from Baikonur. Backup dates are Nov 9 & 10. If there is a delay, it is hoped we will be able to update things here. Engine burns: 1st: 2011-Nov-08 22:55:47.981 UTC - 23:05:18.253 UTC 2nd: 2011-Nov-09 01:02:48.870 UTC - 01:20:09.975 UTC These burns are not visible to Russian ground stations, and while the spacecraft will record telemetry for later playback, near "real-time" imaging and astrometry, especially during the burns, is sought. Shadow entrance & exit times: #1 enter: 2011-Nov-08 20:36:00.000 UTC exit : 2011-Nov-08 20:40:18.289 UTC #2 enter: 2011-Nov-08 21:34:27.083 UTC exit : 2011-Nov-08 22:10:20.337 UTC #3 enter: 2011-Nov-08 23:04:29.651 UTC exit : 2011-Nov-08 23:36:02.611 UTC #4 enter: 2011-Nov-09 01:16:43.566 UTC exit : 2011-Nov-09 01:20:09.899 UTC OVERVIEW: Phobos-Soil is an unmanned mission of the Russian Federal Space Agency that will land on the Martian moon and return a soil sample to Earth. Also known as "Phobos-Grunt" or "Fobos-Grunt" ("grunt" being the Russian word meaning soil or dirt), or "PhSRM" for Phobos Sample Return Mission. It will also study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation environment. It is currently scheduled to be launched November 2011 on a Zenit launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage. The return vehicle is scheduled to arrive back on Earth in August 2014. Mission control will be the Russian Center for Deep Space Communications OBJECTIVES: * Collect soil samples from Phobos and return them to Earth for scientific research on Phobos, Mars, and Martian space. * In situ and remote studies of Phobos (to include analysis of soil samples) * Monitoring the atmospheric behavior of Mars, including the dynamics of dust storms * Studies of the vicinity of Mars, to include its radiation environment, plasma and dust * Study of the origin of the Martian satellites and their relation to Mars * Study of the role played by asteroid impacts in the formation of terrestrial planets * Search for possible past or present life (biosignatures) * Sending select extremophile microorganisms on a three-year interplanetary round-trip in a small sealed capsule (LIFE experiment). SPACECRAFT: 11,100 kg (w/fuel) Other Payloads: #1) Yinghuo-1 The first Chinese Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, will be launched with Phobos-Soil. In late 2012, after a 10-11.5 months cruise, Yinghuo-1 separates and enters a 800 x 80,000 km three day equatorial orbit (5 deg inclination). Yinghuo-1 is expected to remain in Martian orbit for one year. Yinghuo-1 will focus mainly on the study of the external environment of Mars. #2) MetNet Two landers developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, are included with the Phobos-Soil launch. #3) LIFE A payload from the Planetary Society called the Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment, or LIFE, will send 10 types of microorganisms and a natural soil colony of microbes on the three-year round trip to assess their ability to survive the space environment. INSTRUMENTS: * TV system for navigation and guidance * Gamma ray spectrometer * Neutron spectrometer * Alpha X spectrometer * Mass spectrometer * Seismometer * Long-wave radar * Visual and near-infrared spectrometer * Dust counter * Ion spectrometer * Optical solar sensor __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (11) RECENT ACTIVITY: • New Photos 4 Visit Your Group MARKETPLACE Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now. Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use . __,_._,___ ________________________________________ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1831 / Virus Database: 2090/4548 - Release Date: 10/12/11 _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-l
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