Two twins Artemis satellite in lunar orbit

Sunday, July 17, 2011, the first Artemis satellite in orbit the moon will be your new companion Monday in less than a month. That's when the 2nd satellite Artemis, designed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and this is part of the mission of NASA's Themis satellites 5 will be released into orbit permanent moon after a tortuous journey, lasting two years, from its initial orbit the earth.
Artemis first satellite was launched into a stable orbit around the equator of the moon on June 27, 2011. If all goes well, the first two exploration satellite to be launched into orbit is similar, but in the opposite direction, on the afternoon of Sunday, July 17, 2011. Two satellite Artemis will immediately begin first observations on the lunar surface: the moon's magnetic field and magnetic field surrounding it.

                                                The first Artemis satellite in orbit



"With two to go on with Artemis satellite orbit but in opposite directions, we get three-dimensional images of structures from the near and the moon," said Vassilis Angelopoulos, principal investigator of the mission of Themis and Artemis satellites, and a professor of space physics at UCLA, USA. "The satellite Artemis will make the mission a whole new science, as well as the use of the satellite is to save expenditure of public funds." "These satellites are equipped with the most has been to the moon," said David Sibeck, project scientist Themis and Artemis, at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland, USA. "This is the first time we observed the moon from two opposite directions, thanks to two twin Satellite, and this will be a major component of the overall research program of our moon." This transition into lunar orbit will be handled by engineers in scientific laboratory space (SSL), UC Berkeley, USA: control of the satellite mission Themis (Time, the sequence of events and interactions of macro-small storms) and satellite Artemis (acceleration, reconnection, turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the interaction between the moon with the sun). "We are on schedule we've committed," said Manfred Bester, CEO of Laboratory Sciences Space (SSL). 05 Themis satellites were launched into space by NASA on February 17, 2007, to explore how magnetic storms with speeds millions of miles per hour interacting with Earth's magnetic field and the direction of sight facing surface of the earth. Within a half years, they have found the answer of the mission: The origin where and how the small storms in the Earth's magnetosphere, as the dawn light appeared in the Arctic and Antarctic ? Answer: The storm from the ball hidden deep within the planet's sun, at a distance of 1 / 3 the distance to the moon, where the magnetic capture, connect and open up a storm of energy the hopper at the poles and makes the light in the air appear in red and green. The storms can wreak havoc on satellites, power grids and communications systems. Mission completed, the scientists want to divert two of the five Themis satellites to orbit the moon in order to expand their research from the field to go further into space. A second key reason is the most Earth satellites far will soon shut down because, with too much time using the sun hidden in the shadows around the Earth, the solar battery of the satellite will discharge . To accomplish new tasks, the group of researchers at UC Berkeley, USA and Goddard groups, with the help of experts in laboratory jet propulsion in Pasadena, U.S., carried out 150 drawings represent map exercise to save fuel, and to promote two Themis satellites from orbit to orbit around the Lagrange temporarily of the earth and the moon, which is the point in space, gravity is attractive result from the moon and earth are the same. The transfer takes about 18 months, then colleagues Goddard hold two satellites in orbits of Lagrange in the months before the first satellite (P1) is converted into lunar orbit in June. "It's a technical challenge, is the first task that we have a pilot on a satellite orbiting the moon, but are not designed to go there," says Daniel Cosgrove, control engineer's orbit satellites, working at UC Berkeley, USA. The control difficult. The satellite's propulsion is small, only convenient for pushing down and sideways, while the satellite is constantly rotating, making control more difficult. In addition, P1 has lost satellite sensors on the bridge in 2010, at the end of a long string of four protruding from the satellite to measure electric fields in space. The cause may be a tiny asteroid that cutting 1 / 10 of wire 82 feet - legs and break spherical sensor, sending "a small black ball flying through the solar system," Bester said. 5 satellite was built by a team of very talented with great attention to detail, predict that the probes Artemis can survive another 10 years, longer than 3 Protection Themis remaining crystal, which has many flights in and out of Van Allen radiation belts of Earth's dangerous. After the satellite Monday, P2, was launched into lunar orbit, two satellite Artemis will scan the lunar surface 1 per orbit, and access within a few tens of kilometers in a different belt , 20 degrees above and below the equator, while the recorded electric and magnetic fields and ion concentrations. "When the moon passes through the solar storms, the magnetic field embedded in the rocks near the surface interacts with the solar wind magnetic field, while self-moon's surface absorbs the solar wind particles, creates a cavity behind it, "Angelopoulos said. "We can study these complex interactions to learn more about the moon and the solar wind, from a convenient location between two observation points only for the first time that three-dimensional images of structures dynamic structure. " Sibeck note: "Ship Stereo twin satellites of NASA, launched into space in 2006, also provides a 3D view of the sun's magnetic field on a large scale. Satellite Themis and Artemis, the study the micro, but now we know the operating system, "said Sibeck. A Artemis satellite mission is to find plasmoids, which are the hot spots of ionized gas or plasma. "Themis satellites have shown evidence of magnetic reconnection push the hot blobs of plasma the second direction and distance of the Earth, and we want to discover how they work and how much energy, "Angelopoulos said. "Plasmoids can extend over tens of thousands of miles." "Themis found the cause and the Artemis satellite will study the consequences can be very massive and global scale," said Sibeck. The satellite will also study elements of the lunar surface by recording the solar wind particles reflected or scattered from the surface and the ion escape the moon's surface by wind. "These measurements can tell us about the nature of the surface of the moon, from which we can infer the formation and evolution of the moon's surface over billions of years," said Angelopoulos . 2 satellite will join the Artemis spacecraft reconnaissance aircraft under NASA's lunar orbit, which is orbiting the moon from 2009 to take high resolution pictures and look for signs of ice. In September 2010, NASA is expected to launch satellite with two functions: Gravity Recovery and multimedia laboratories, to map the gravitational field of the moon in 2013, will start next Ladee plan: study the moon's atmosphere and explore the environment of dust, to describe the characteristics of the lunar atmosphere and dust environment there. "The satellite Artemis will provide context for the task Ladee" Sibeck said. Three satellites are still not operating in orbit around the moon: two small satellite in lunar orbit flight in Japan, Kaguya, fell to the surface of the moon in 2009; satellite Chandrayaan- an Indian, had lost contact with Earth also in 2009. Satellites orbiting the moon bay 2 of China, Chang'e-2 has left the moon into interplanetary space on June 8, 2011. Ho Duy Binh (In Innovations-report)