A research published in the journal “Science” has shown a very accurate map of the world’s seafloor that includes thousands of previously unknown underwater mountains. The researchers, led by David Sandwell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, conducted this study using satellite data collected over the past years.
The mission of ESA’s GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite ended last year but as always in these cases the data it gathered keep on being analyzed. In this case, the very accurate measurements of gravity variations on the surface of the Earth have also allowed to analyze the melting of ice in Antarctica in recent years.
During the last week, two spacecraft successfully entered the planet Mars orbit, the American MAVEN and the Indian MOM, informally known as Mangalyaan. Both NASA and ISRO, the Indian Space Agency which is now starting being well known in the world, immediately started test operations of their probes, which sent the first images of the red planet.
ISRO, the Indian Space Agency, has confirmed that the Indian space probe Mangalyaan, officially called the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), has entered the orbit of Mars. The thrusters of the spacecraft were switched on for 24 minutes to slow it down at the right speed to get into an elliptical orbit with a period of 3.2 days.
The MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) space probe, launched on November 18, 2013, successfully entered Mars orbit a few hours ago. The spacecraft thrusters performed a 33 minutes burn to slow it down to the right speed to get into an elliptical orbit with a period of 35 hours.
Now a period of six weeks starts in which MAVEN will be programmed for further orbital correction maneuvers and to test its instruments. Subsequently, it will begin its primary mission to study the Martian atmosphere.
