Ambitious space missions

If you think 2010 is a successful year of space exploration, consider it again.

The year 2011 promises to witness the discovery of the Solar System by multi-billion dollar exploration ships, satellites and detectors, according to Discovery News .

Curiosity Robot

Let's see what is going to go into space this year.

Glory

The US Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA) plans to launch a new scientific spacecraft team starting with Glory, which is designed to study two crucial factors for the Earth's climate system: how much energy comes from the sun; How many types of gas condensate are in the atmosphere and what types.

' When we begin to establish climate policy based on inputs that lead to climate change, we need to distinguish how many factors we can control and how much is completely Naturally, 'said expert Greg Kopp at the University of Colorado's Atmospheric and Space Research Laboratory.

Under the plan, Glory will be launched from Vandenberg Air Base in California on February 23.

Message from Mercury

On March 18, NASA's Messenger spacecraft will end its six-year journey with a 15-minute " mission " to bring it into orbit Mercury. If successful, Messenger will be the first spacecraft to fly around the solar system's inner planet.

Scientists obtained some data about Mercury in the past three flights of Messenger, including new evidence of volcanic eruptions, information about the planet's magnetic storm as well as 'excess' stock. The amount of chemicals blown by the solar wind blows away from the planet's thin atmosphere.

Those studies are just the beginning. In the 1-year round-trip of Mercury's orbit (if successful orbit), scientists will explore Mercury's composition, map the surface and magnetic fields, find out what what's inside the core; Search for ice in areas often hidden around the poles, and study the planet's delicate atmosphere.

' By the time this mission is completed, we will see Mercury is a much different planet than we thought ,' said Carnegie Institute expert Sean Solomon.

Catching cosmic rays

The most powerful atom-breaking agents on Earth cannot compete with Mother Nature when it comes to the ability to produce high-energy particles.

Therefore, in April, NASA intends to put the world's first particle detector into space to sample natural cosmic rays.

Spectrophotometers from Alpha, or AMS, will be attached and operated by the International Space Station and remotely controlled by specialist teams on Earth.

Particle detector - Photo: NASA

Nobel laureate Samuel Ting, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is managing a team of more than 500 physicists in 16 countries working on the project, starting in 1994.

As the space shuttle began to retire, Mr. Ting lobbied the US Congress to allow the mission to launch the 7.5 ton heavy equipment.

Time and investment of $ 2 billion may be worth it if the AMS proves the parallel existence of an antimatter universe.

In fact, scientists don't know what to expect when AMS begins to look at cosmic rays. ' You are entering a whole new field. It's hard to predict what you'll find , 'Ting said.

Salt on Earth

NASA and Argentina's space agency are collaborating on a mission to measure ocean salinity, a missing piece in the complex ' jigsaw ' of Earth's climate change.

The Aquarius / SAC-D spacecraft, expected to be launched in June, will use a radio receiver to identify the basic natural wastes of the world's oceans.

Aquarius is sensitive enough to identify salt equivalent to 1/8 teaspoon of salt added to a gallon of water, according to Earth Researcher Gary Lagerloef and Space in Seattle.

By looking at the results of ocean salinity, scientists hope to better understand the relationship between global and climate water cycles .

Back to Jupiter

The mission of Galileo to Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 has raised many questions about the largest planet in the Solar System, including the origin of the planet.

In August, a Jupiter probe named Juno will begin a five-year journey to launch a new round of research in 2016.

From an extremely irregular planet orbit, Juno will try to decode information about the origin of Jupiter, its internal structure, its atmospheric thickness and its magnetosphere.

Scientists hope that understanding Jupiter will add to the theories about how the solar system is formed and developed.

Mars Science Laboratory

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is expected to take off on November 25 and Mars next 9 months.

Scientists have yet to decide where to land but they know what the next task is: find out if there are or ever supports the life of bacteria in Mars.

The exploration robot called Curiosity is designed to collect, process and analyze soil samples, especially focusing on finding materials necessary for life such as carbon.

Operated by the heat generated by the natural decay of the plutonium radioactive element, Curiosity is expected to approach the Martian terrain within one Martian year (687 days on Earth) and prepare for the task Samples brought to Earth in the future.