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| New astrometric observations of Phobos with the SRC on Mars Express |
| Aims. New astrometric measurements for Phobos are reported on the basis of 69 SRC (Super Resolution Channel) images obtained during 28 Mars Express Phobos flybys executed between 2004 and 2007.
Methods. The measurements have been made using a newly developed technique that involves positional measurements of surface control points and verification of camera pointing by background stars.
Results. The astrometric positions are in excellent agreement with currently available Phobos orbit models. However, we find remaining systematic offsets of 1.5-2.6 km such that Phobos is ahead of its predicted position along the track.
Conclusions. Our observations will be a basis for further improvements in the Phobos ephemeris. The methods that we have developed will be useful for the astrometric tracking of planetary or asteroidal targets and spacecraft optical navigation in future planetary missions. |
| Publication date: 25 Feb 2010 |
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| ESA Bulletin 137 - The First European Asteroid Flyby |
| The first flyby of an asteroid by a European spacecraft was a major success, both from the scientific and engineering points of view. This was the first planned scientific objective of ESA's Rosetta mission, and the optical navigation campaign, performed for the first time in Europe, gave results well beyond expectations. |
| Publication date: 15 Feb 2010 |
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| ESA Bulletin 137: ESA's 'billion-pixel' camera - The challenges of the Gaia mission |
| Gaia is ESA's global space astrometry mission,
designed to map one thousand million stars and
hundreds of thousands of other celestial objects in
our galaxy, so its camera will have to be something
truly special. |
| Publication date: 15 Feb 2010 |
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| ExoMars Science Management Plan |
Document reference number: EXM-MS-PL-ESA-00002
This Science Management Plan specifies in detail the scientific management of the ExoMars programme, focusing on the way the payload is selected and implemented for the various mission elements, as a joint effort of the scientific community, the funding organisations, ESA and NASA. The modes of participation in the programme are addressed, as well as the responsibility of the ESA Project Manager, Project Scientist, and their teams vis-à-vis the implementation and exploitation of the instruments. Finally, the data rights of the involved scientists and their responsibilities for the public outreach activities are explained, as is the data analysis support policy.
Once approved, the ExoMars Science Management Plan will become applicable to all parties wishing to participate in the ExoMars programme. Whenever mission or programmatic developments justify a revision, the ExoMars Science Management Plan will be updated and resubmitted, to the Advisory Bodies for endorsement and to the Programme Board (PB-HME) for approval. |
| Publication date: 12 Feb 2010 |
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| Evolution of Infrared Luminosity functions of Galaxies in the AKARI NEP-Deep field. Revealing the cosmic star formation history hidden by dust |
Aims. Dust-obscured star-formation increases with increasing intensity and increasing redshift. We aim to reveal the cosmic starformation history obscured by dust using deep infrared observation with AKARI.
Methods. We constructed restframe 8 micron, 12 micron, and total infrared (TIR) luminosity functions (LFs) at 0.15 < z < 2.2 using 4128 infrared sources in the AKARI NEP-Deep field. A continuous filter coverage in the mid-IR wavelength (2.4, 3.2, 4.1, 7, 9, 11, 15, 18, and 24 micron) by the AKARI satellite allowed us to estimate restframe 8 micron and 12 micron luminosities without using a large extrapolation based on an SED fit, which was the largest uncertainty in previous work.
Results. We find that all 8 micron (0.38 < z < 2.2), 12 micron (0.15 < z < 1.16), and TIR LFs (0.2 < z < 1.6) show continuous and strong evolution toward higher redshift. Our direct estimate of 8 micron LFs is useful since previous work often had to use a large extrapolation from the Spitzer 24 micron to 8 micron, where SED modeling is more difficult because of the PAH emissions. In terms of cosmic infrared luminosity density (OmegaIR), which was obtained by integrating analytic fits to the LFs, we find good agreement with previous work at z < 1.2. We find the OmegaIR evolves as proportinal to (1 + z)4.4±1.0. When we separate contributions to OmegaIR by LIRGs and ULIRGs, we found more IR luminous sources are increasingly more important at higher redshift. We find that the ULIRG (LIRG) contribution increases by a factor of 10 (1.8) from z=0.35 to z=1.4. |
| Publication date: 05 Feb 2010 |
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| Spatium 24: Cosmic Visions |
| This issue of Spatium summarizes a talk by Prof. Southwood, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, on the European Space Agency's scientific programme: Cosmic Vision. |
| Publication date: 01 Feb 2010 |
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