Daniel Cleary 11 B

Unit 4 Physics Applications

Exploring Earth and Space

Assignment 5

Task1
The international space agency is looking for suitable
candidates to work at some of the world’s most prestigious
sites.
Candidates must be suitably qualified in educational, mental
and physical requirements for the particular posts.

Site 1

The Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Telescope is an optical telescope situated in earth

orbit, it is controlled and data is received by the Flight
operations Team at the Goddard Space Flight Centre in
Greenbelt Maryland USA.
Site 2

Jodrell Bank Observatory.

The Jodrell Bank centre has eight large radio telescopes, the
largest being the Lovell radio telescope which is 76 metres and
the third largest in the world. Jodrell bank is situated in
Cheshire and data is analysed at Manchester University.
Site 3

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The Chandra X-Ray observatory orbits earth in a high elliptical

orbit, at its farthest point it is one third the way to the moon,
it is operated by NASA and its data is transferred to the
Chandra X-Ray Centre in Massachusetts USA.
Site 4

The Compton Gamma Observatory.

the Compton Gamma-Ray observatory was launched by NASA

in 1991 and de-orbited in June 2000. Controlled from the
Marshall Space Centre it searched for short gamma-ray burst
from deep space.
Site5

Cassini-Huygens unmanned space missions.

launched in 1997 the Cassini-Huygens space craft arrived in

Saturn’s orbit in July 2004, consisting of the Cassini orbit
module and the Huygens module which descended to the
surface of Titan, the project is funded and data gathered by 16
European countries and the USA
Task 1b

A vacancy exists for a suitable candidate to join the elite group

of scientists working on the International Space Station.

For the last nine years the International Space Station has
been permanently crewed, the present crew consists of 22
scientists and astronauts.

As a member of the expedition crew you will be carrying out

experiments into biology, human biology, physics, astronomy
and meteorology.

The station has a unique environment for testing spacecraft

systems and will be required for missions to the moon and
mars.

The space station is reached by the Shuttle, at a height of 202

miles in orbit, the space station is orbiting the earth at around
17,245 miles per hour.

The shuttle takes off from Cape Canaveral in Florida USA and
lands at Andrews Air Force Base.
 Space shuttle Atlantis after take off with solid fuel boosters
still attached, once escape velocity is reached they are
detached. The Shuttle then carries on the join the space
station.
Once in orbit the shuttle approaches the space station and
docks allowing the crew to board.

Crew of space Station working outside of the craft. Once on

board the station you will live and work in zero gravity,
conditions can be cramped but you will always have splendid
views!!
Task 2

Technical info

Hubble Space telescope

Launched 24/4/1990
Length 13.2 metres
Weight 24,500 lb
Orbit 97 miles
Speed 17,500 mph

The Hubble Space telescope is an optical telescope used to probe the

deepest parts of the visible universe.

Jodrel Bank Radio telescope

Built 1957
Ground based
8 main radio dishes
Largest Lovall Telescope 76 metres

The jodrel Bank Observatory has 8 main radio telescopes which collect
radio waves transmitted naturally by stars and galaxies.

Chandra X-Ray observatory

Launched 23/7/1999
Length 45 feet
Orbit 75,000 km
Speed 16,000 kph

The Chandra collects X-Ray radiation transmitted by stars and

galaxies.

Compton gamma observatory

At 17 tons the Compton was the largest payload at the time
The mission lasted for 9 years from 1999-2000

The Compton gamma observatory examined the electromagnetic

spectrum of stars and galaxies.
Hygens-Cassini Mission.

Launched 15/10/1997 the probe reached Saturn in April 2004 where

the Hygens probe was launched to land on Titan, Saturn’s largest
moon.
The Cassini probe remained in orbit around Saturn and continues to
relay data and high resolution photographs.

Task 3

Hubble Space Telescope is operated by NASA and has been

transmitting high resolution images for over 20 years, unhindered by
earth’s atmosphere it can probe deep into space, one of it’s most
famous images is the Deep Field. In 1995 the telescope was pointed at
a seemingly empty and small area of the sky, it observed this for ten
days and the resulting images showed thousands of galaxies the most
distant where the light had taken 10 Billion years to reach earth.

Jodrel Bank observatory has been operating in Cheshire for over 50

years, it’s massive radio dishes collect cosmic rays emitted from
space, it has played an important role in investigating quasars and
pulsars and other phenomenon which cannot be observed by optical
means.
One of it’s main present projects is MERLIN which is linking radio
dishes across the country giving it a baseline of 217 kilometres.

Chandra X-Ray observatory is operated by NASA from Massachusetts,

moving in a high orbit, one third the way to the moon, Chandra
observes
The "X-ray universe" refers to the universe as observed with
telescopes designed to detect X-rays. X-rays are produced in the
cosmos when matter is heated to millions of degrees. Such
temperatures occur where high magnetic fields, or extreme gravity, or
explosive forces, hold sway.
Chandra is presently exploring the nature of Black Holes.
Cassini-Hygens, the probe was launched in 1997 and took seven years
to reach Saturn once there the Hygens probe was released and landed
on Titan’s largest moon, Titan.
Since then the Cassini probe has been in orbit around Saturn relaying
data back to NASA.
"When you look at Saturn through any telescope, all you can see is
Saturn's day side and the sunlit part of its rings," says Dr. Linda
Spilker, deputy project scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission. "With
the Cassini spacecraft we can see the whole planet, including the night
side. We can see the rings. We can get close enough to see things like
tiny storms that even the powerful telescopes can't see. We can collect
data and make measurements that can only be done by actually going
to Saturn."
Cassini’s present mission is the Equinox mission which is investigating
the atmosphere of the planet.