NASA IBEX to see edge of Solar System

by William Atkins

Friday, 03 October 2008

Page 2 of 3 The mapping mission of IBEX will be the first attempt of any human-made spacecraft to image and map the entire dynamic interactions taking place between the hot solar wind as it impinges on the coldness of interstellar space. Once, lifted into space by the Pegasus rocket, a solid rocket motor, made by Alliant Techsystems, will be used to boost the IBEX into an highly elliptical Earth orbit with an apogee (furthest point in the orbit) of about 150,000 miles (250,000 kilometers)—which is about two-thirds the way to the Moon’s orbit about the Earth. The NASA website for IBEX states, “At the edge of our solar system in December 2004, the Voyager 1 spacecraft encountered something never before experienced during its then 26-year cruise through the solar system — an invisible shock formed as the solar wind piles up against the gas in interstellar space. This boundary, called the termination shock, marks the beginning of our solar system's final frontier, a vast expanse of turbulent gas and twisting magnetic fields.” It adds, “A NASA-sponsored team is developing a way to view this chaotic but unseen realm for the first time. Just as an impressionist artist makes an image from countless tiny strokes of paint, NASA’s new Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft will build up an image of the termination shock and areas beyond by using hits from high-speed atoms that are radiating out of this region.” Soutwest Research Institute scientist David J. McComas, IBEX principal investigator, adds his slant on the dramatic and first-of-its-kind mission to map the outer reaches of our solar system. He says, “IBEX will let us make the first global observations of the region beyond the termination shock at the very edges of our solar system. This region is critical because it shields out the vast majority of the deadly cosmic rays that would otherwise permeate the space around the Earth and other planets.” [NASA: “'Impressionist' Spacecraft to View Solar System's Invisible Frontier”] Dr. McComas adds, "IBEX will let us visualize our home in the galaxy for the first time and explore how it may have evolved over the history of the solar system. Ultimately, by making the first images of the interstellar boundaries neighboring our solar system, IBEX will provide a first step toward exploring the galactic frontier." Page three talks about the instruments onboard IBEX, and why the spacecraft is named after a goat. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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