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Fourth Annual International Planetary Probe Workshop

Monday, June 5, 2006

June 27 - June 30, 2006
Pasadena, California USA
Late Registration Deadline June 19

IPPW-4, the Fourth International Planetary Probe Workshop, is devoted to robotic exploration of planets with atmospheres through the use of entry probes, aerial platforms and the technologies of aeroassist. The workshop brings together planetary scientists, engineers and technologists with an interest in entry descent and flight in planetary and satellite atmospheres. This includes the major planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - with their bottomless atmospheric oceans and Mars, Venus and Saturn's moon Titan which have solid surfaces accessible to scientific investigation. The workshop will feature keynote addresses by leading researchers as well as invited and contributed papers.
The workshop will be preceded on June 25-26, 2006, by a two-day short course "In Situ Instruments for Planetary Probes and Aerial Platforms," designed to further the workshop goals.

More information: Fourth Annual International Planetary Probe Workshop

Posted by HotTopicsJournalist in Other EPO at 18:13

NASA-Funded Study Says Saturn's Moon Enceladus Rolled Over

Monday, June 5, 2006

Saturn's moon Enceladus - an active, icy world with an unusually warm south pole - may have performed an unusual trick for a planetary body. New research shows Enceladus rolled over, literally, explaining why the moon's hottest spot is at the south pole.

Enceladus
Image right: This graphic illustrates the interior of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It shows warm, low-density material rising to the surface from within, in its icy shell (yellow) and/or its rocky core (red). Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute 200x200

Enceladus recently grabbed scientists' attention when the Cassini spacecraft observed icy jets and plumes indicating active geysers spewing from the tiny moon's south polar region.

"The mystery we set out to explain was how the hot spot could end up at the pole if it didn't start there," said Francis Nimmo, assistant professor of Earth sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz.

The researchers propose the reorientation of the moon was driven by warm, low-density material rising to the surface from within Enceladus. A similar process may have happened on Uranus' moon Miranda, they said. Their findings are in this week's journal Nature.

More on Enceladus. Credit: NASA

Posted by HotTopicsJournalist in Cassini at 17:44

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