Herschel & Planck launch countdown active! ==> LAUNCHED!

[t00fri]

http://herschel.esac.esa.int/latest_news.shtml
http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=planck

The Planck satellite is crucial in acquiring further knowledge beyond the Cosmic Microwave Background (WMAP) and about fundamental parameters of cosmology!

Fridger

[t00fri]

LAUNCH was successful!!

Watch online
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/herschelpla ... NUF_0.html

[chris]

Excellent news--many congrats to ESA on the successful launch!

I am at the moment working with some folks at ESA to verify some pointings for Planck using Celestia and STA. The orbit is quite surprising looking in an Earth-centered inertial frame:

planck-orbit.jpg

Like the 'Pringle' shape? Celestia could really benefit from a plotting interface to see the Lissajous shape of the orbit in a frame fixed about the L2 point.

And none of this stuff about orbits is as interesting as the actual mapping of the CMB...

--Chris

[t00fri]

So what's wrong with drawing orbits in the Earth rest frame (that you call Earth centered inertial frame) in particular and rest frames in general, along with some selectable orbits of special interest in these frames? E.g orbits of satellites, planets, the Sun,...

That sort of feature is precisely what I have been advocating all-along.

Fridger

[chris]

Here's Planck's orbit shown in an inertial frame centered on the Earth-Sun L2 point:

planck-orbit-l2.jpg

The trajectory extends from launch through April 2012.

--Chris

[chris]

So what's wrong with drawing orbits in the Earth rest frame (that you call Earth centered inertial frame) in particular and rest frames in general, along with some selectable orbits of special interest in these frames? E.g orbits of satellites, planets, the Sun,...

I don't have a problem with this provided that:
- the list of orbits of special interest is limited enough
- by default, trajectories are shown in the frames in which they are defined in ssc files

But this is a topic for another thread...

--Chris

[Chuft-Captain]

Great news!

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that a failure of this launch with BOTH of these instruments onboard would have been the biggest setback in scientific discovery since the near-sighted Hubble incident, and probably in all of human history.

I'll bet there were many people holding their breaths at the ESA when the fuse was lit on this one!

CC

[t00fri]

Great news!

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that a failure of this launch with BOTH of these instruments onboard would have been the biggest setback in scientific discovery since the near-sighted Hubble incident, and probably in all of human history.

I'll bet there were many people holding their breaths at the ESA when the fuse was lit on this one!

CC

Right, that was also what I was thinking during the start...

Fridger

[Chuft-Captain]

Check out this video of vibration testing of the telescope: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=43014

[chris]

Check out this video of vibration testing of the telescope: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=43014

Yikes! And this is why they should never let me do the soldering for one of these spacecraft

[selden]

I have split this topic.
The personal vibrations discussion is now in Purgatory.

[LordFerret]

Those orbits are interesting, thanks for sharing Chris. I am eager to see some of the results both probes produce!


Kudos to ESA for a job very well executed.

[symaski62]

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/SEMZETEH1TF_1.html

L2

[BrianJ]

Hello :-)

Excellent news--many congrats to ESA on the successful launch!

Yes indeed, quite spectacular too.

I am at the moment working with some folks at ESA to verify some pointings for Planck using Celestia and STA.

Cool! Is there any attitude/pointing data available for Planck and/or Herschel? I couldn't find any online.

Celestia could really benefit from a plotting interface to see the Lissajous shape of the orbit in a frame fixed about the L2 point.

Yes please! I take it this is not possible at the moment though?

Here's a pic of Herschel's orbit (Earth-centered inertial frame) for comparison with Planck's

hp_1.gif

I have .3ds models of the two spacecraft if anyone wants 'em, thought I might upload to the Motherlode at some point.

Cheers,
Brian

[Chuft-Captain]

I have .3ds models of the two spacecraft if anyone wants 'em, thought I might upload to the Motherlode at some point.

Yes please!

[symaski62]

2 fichier.rar XZYV


Ephemeris Type [change] : VECTORS
Target Body [change] : Herschel Space Observatory (Spacecraft) [-486]
Coordinate Origin [change] : Geocentric [500]
Time Span [change] : Start=2009-MAY-14 13:39:04.7230, Stop=2014-FEB-07 02:17:36.0650, Step=12 h
Table Settings [change] : output units=KM-S; quantities code=2; CSV format=YES
Display/Output [change] : default (formatted HTML)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ephemeris Type [change] : VECTORS
Target Body [change] : Planck Space Observatory (Spacecraft) [-489]
Coordinate Origin [change] : Geocentric [500]
Time Span [change] : Start=2009-MAY-14 13:41:35.0760, Stop=2012-AUG-03 16:35:33.7820, Step=12 h
Table Settings [change] : output units=KM-S; quantities code=2; CSV format=YES
Display/Output [change] : default (formatted HTML)

Code: Select all

"Herschel Space Observatory (Spacecraft)" "Sol/Earth"
{
    Class "spacecraft"
   Radius 0.0035
   
   OrbitFrame { EclipticJ2000 { Center "Sol/Earth"  } }
    SampledTrajectory { Source "test.xyzv" }
   
   Albedo 0.15
}

"Planck Space Observatory (Spacecraft)" "Sol/Earth"
{
    Class "spacecraft"
   Radius 0.0015
   
   OrbitFrame { EclipticJ2000 { Center "Sol/Earth"  } }
    SampledTrajectory { Source "test2.xyzv" }
   
   Albedo 0.15
}

[Chuft-Captain]

Thanks symaski (I was about to ask if anyone had tracked down an XYZ).

...where did you find it?

Have you observed it in combination with my Lagrange addon ? -- Follow or Sync with Earth-L2

[chris]

Thanks symaski (I was about to ask if anyone had tracked down an XYZ).

...where did you find it?

The trajectories for Planck (and probably Herschel--haven't checked) are available via HORIZONS. There's data from launch through April 2012.

--Chris

[chris]

The model of the Planck space observatory from ESA is now available:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... _id=322873

We have permission to include this in Celestia add-ons.

--Chris

[selden]

I have two different types of problems with the model.

1. When I try to download either planck.3ds or xmm.3ds, both Firefox and IE8 claim that they're tiff images and try to display them using QuickTime, which fails, of course.

Unlike FireFox, IE8 also showed a page which gave the option of downloading the file directly, which I did.

2. When I load planck.3ds and xmm.3ds into Anim8or, both models seem to be missing pieces. I don't know if this is a problem with the models or with Anim8or.

planck_in_anim8or.png