(8.August 1969)
Pimentel´s evidence was from an infrared spectrometer, designed to detect elements by measuring their radiation.
Archiv: spacecrafts / space flight / travel
Blue Origin launch live updates: Jeff Bezos soars to the edge of space in historic flight
Newly minted astronaut Jeff Bezos says spaceflight left him ‘speechless’
Shortly after landing back on Earth, the elated Amazon founder opened up about his experience in a brief interview with ABC News’ Michael Strahan.
“I’m speechless in a way … I don’t have the talent to put into words what we just experienced, maybe we need to send a poet up at some point or something,”
I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers: if we can do this, just imagine what you can do #Unity22 @virgingalactic
Flying to space onboard Virgin Galactic
I have dreamt about this moment since I was a child, but nothing could have prepared me for the view of Earth from space. It was magical.
China’s Tianwen-1 probe sends back Mars landing visuals
Two photos and two videos captured by China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 during and after the country’s first landing on the red planet were released on Wednesday.
Zhurong Rover is driving on Mars sending back new images (Chinese Tianwen-1 mission)
On May 21, 2021 CNSA published images of Mars Rover Zhurong driving on Red Planet around general station. The rover’s mission planned tasks are to: Study the topography and geology of the local area; examine the soil and any ice content; survey the elements, minerals and rocks; atmospheric sampling.
Virgin Galactic Completes First-Ever Spaceflight from New Mexico
On May 22, 2021, Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity spaceship completed the first-ever human spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico, with two pilots reaching apogee at 55.45 miles above ground. The flight is a meaningful step toward the opening of commercial space travel.
Three-man Soyuz flight honouring Gagarin blasts off for ISS
Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei lifted off from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at the expected time of 0742 GMT, footage broadcast by NASA TV showed, with docking expected at 1107 GMT.
Since the @NASAPersevere landing, we’ve been prioritizing two types of data: first-of-its-kind footage from the rover’s entry, descent & landing. And, health & safety data for the rover & its subsystems. We’ll release more images & video on Monday in a news briefing at 2pm ET.
NASA’s Mars Helicopter Reports In
f Ingenuity succeeds in taking off and hovering during its first flight, over 90% of the project’s goals will have been achieved. If the rotorcraft lands successfully and remains operable, up to four more flights could be attempted, each one building on the success of the last.
“We are in uncharted territory, but this team is used to that,” said MiMi Aung, project manager for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL.
Methane, Ammonia on Mars? Mariner 7 Sees Hint of Life
(8.August 1969)
Pimentel´s evidence was from an infrared spectrometer, designed to detect elements by measuring their radiation.
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance landing: Everything you need to know
)18.02.2021)
Once the pristine Mars material is on the ground, scientists in labs around the world can scrutinize it using far more powerful and precise equipment than a single rover can carry to the Red Planet.
Touchdown! NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet
(18.02.2021)
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA, will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
China’s Space Probe Sends Back Its First Image Of Mars
The black-and-white photo released late Friday by the China National Space Administration showed geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast stretch of canyons on the Martian surface.
Cyprus rocky testing ground for Mars
The CSEO is taking part in a major international research project on Mars, in collaboration with three other European countries as well as the United States.
The 5 best places to explore in the solar system—besides Mars
In studying Pluto, “we can get a sense of what goes on in the Kuiper belt, and how it’s able to produce these geologically active bodies that are so small and distant from the sun but still have enough internal energy to drive these processes,” says Karunatillake. Pluto could be a sign that just because another world is far away from the sun doesn’t mean it’s completely dead.
As with Ceres, however, there just hasn’t been enough time since the last mission to justify greenlighting a new one yet. We may need to wait another decade before NASA or another institution thinks it’s time to launch another spacecraft to Pluto.
NASA, China and the UAE are scheduled to send missions to Mars in July
The number of missions, who is launching them and their complexity illustrate the importance Mars has for purveyors of space exploration policy.
What’s the Status of NASA and SpaceX’s Mission to Launch Astronauts to Space?
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday, May 30, for the launch of the first commercially built and operated American rocket and spacecraft carrying astronauts to the space station.
China’s space programme targets July launch for maiden mission to Mars
The Mars mission is among a number of new space projects China is pursuing, including putting Chinese astronauts on the moon and having a space station by 2022.
NASA’s human spaceflight chief just resigned, and the timing couldn’t be worse
The timing of Doug Loverro’s departure is terrible, with NASA’s first launch of humans in nearly nine years due to occur in just eight days.
The space agency offered a bland statement regarding Loverro’s resignation as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) at NASA.
Curiosity’s 1.8-Billion-Pixel Panorama
A version without the rover contains nearly 1.8 billion pixels; a version with the rover contains nearly 650 million pixels. Both versions are composed of more than 1,000 images that were carefully assembled over the following months.
Curiosity rover captures highest-resolution panorama photo of Mars ever taken
Scientists have spent the last few months assembling the nearly 1,200 images to create one cohesive picture, NASA said in a press release. They were taken with the rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, using its telephoto lens between November 24 and December 1, when the entire mission team on Earth was off for Thanksgiving.
America’s next Mars rover will be called Perseverance
The name was picked from a shortlist of nine submitted by schoolchildren.
The public is helping us see Jupiter like it’s never been seen before
„We do not have a formal imaging science team on Juno, so we have turned to the public to help us out,“ says Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, Juno co-investigator responsible for JunoCam.
The amateur astronomy community assists with planning, she explains, determining when JunoCam should photograph the planet and where. Once images are sent back to Earth, the public has access to raw data, which, with a little photo editing know-how, have been processed into some of the most stunning images yet seen of Jupiter.
NASA to keep using Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft in 2021 fiscal year — budget proposal
NASA will keep using Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to deliver its astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021 fiscal year that starts on October 1, NASA said it its 2021 budget request summary, published on Monday.
NASA to Announce New Discoveries at Annual Astronomy Meeting
NASA researchers will present new findings on a wide range of astrophysics and other space science topics at the 235th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Saturday, Jan. 4, through Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Honolulu. NASA-related briefings will stream live on the agency’s website.
Space Oddity
(12.05.2013)
A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.
Chris Hadfield Teaches Space Exploration
01 Introduction
Meet your instructor: Chris Hadfield, retired astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station. In his first lesson, Chris reflects on overcoming the impossible to explore outer space.
02 Astronaut Training
To become an astronaut, you have to become an expert on everything. Chris outlines the scope of an astronaut’s training from leadership skills to survival skills.
…
Astronauts begin operation on SpaceX Dragon’s docking with ISS
SpaceX Dragon was launched by Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on December 5. The spacecraft will deliver to the ISS some 2.5 tonnes of cargo, including 998 kg for a series of 38 scientific experiments.
Spacewalkers press ahead with space station cosmic ray detector repair
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays in long-term research to learn what happened to the antimatter presumably cooked up in the big bang. It also is looking for clues about the nature of unseen dark matter and the equally mysterious dark energy that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.
Methane, Ammonia on Mars? Mariner 7 Sees Hint of Life
(8.August 1969)
Pimentel´s evidence was from an infrared spectrometer, designed to detect elements by measuring their radiation.
The Curiosity rover detects oxygen behaving strangely on Mars
„We’re struggling to explain this,“ said Melissa Trainer, study author and planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. „The fact that the oxygen behavior isn’t perfectly repeatable every season makes us think that it’s not an issue that has to do with atmospheric dynamics. It has to be some chemical source and sink (of elements into the soil) that we can’t yet account for.“
It relates back to the methane mystery.
Voyager 2 reveals the dynamic, complex nature of the solar system’s edge
Despite encountering the heliopause at different times and locations — the two spacecraft are farther from each other than each are from the sun — some things looked similar. The magnetic field looked pretty much the same on the inside and the outside of the boundary: Somehow, the sun’s magnetic field lines up nearly perfectly with the local galactic field, contrary to expectations. “We could dismiss that as coincidence in one case, but we can’t do that twice,” study coauthor Leonard Burlaga, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in the news conference.
Energetic charged particle measurements from Voyager 2 at the heliopause and beyond
Here, we report measurements of energetic (>28 keV) charged particles on V2 from the interface region between the heliosheath, dominated by heated solar wind plasma, and the VLISM, expected to contain cold non-solar plasma and the Galactic magnetic field. The number of particles of solar origin began a gradual decrease on 7 August 2018 (118.2 au), while those of Galactic origin (Galactic cosmic rays) increased ~20% in number over a period of a few weeks. An abrupt change occurred on 5 November when V2 was located at 119 au, with a decrease in the number of particles at energies of >28 keV and a corresponding increase in the number of Galactic cosmic rays of energy E > 213 MeV. T
Nasa’s Voyager 2 sends back its first signal from interstellar space
The shape depends, in a complex way, on the relative strengths of the magnetic fields inside and outside of the heliosphere, and the latest measurements are suggestive of a more spherical form.
NASA Engineer Proposes ‚Helical Engine‘ For Interstellar Travel With No Propellant
Burns said his helical engine would work by accelerating ions confined in a loop. By changing their mass slightly, the engine would then move the ions back and forth along the direction of travel to produce thrust. New Scientist notes that the helical engine would need to be 650 feet long and 40 feet wide in order to work.
Helical Engine
• What and Why
•Thought Experiment
•Ions and Particle Accelerators
•Classical vs Relativistic Dynamics
•Helical Engine Architecture
•A Specific Design Example
•Conservation of Momentum
•Conclusions
NASA engineer’s ‚helical engine‘ may violate the laws of physics
This mass changing isn’t prohibited by physics. Einstein’s theory of special relativity says that objects gain mass as they are driven towards the speed of light, an effect that must be accounted for in particle accelerators. In fact, a simplistic implementation of Burns’s concept would be to replace the ring with a circular particle accelerator, in which ions are swiftly accelerated to relativistic speed during one stroke, and decelerated during the other.
But Burns thinks it would make more sense to ditch the box and rod and employ the particle accelerator for the lateral as well as the circular movement – in which case, the accelerator would need to be shaped like a helix.
Methane, Ammonia on Mars? Mariner 7 Sees Hint of Life
(8.August 1969)
Pimentel´s evidence was from an infrared spectrometer, designed to detect elements by measuring their radiation.
Is there methane on Mars?
(2011)
The first discovery of methane on Mars was announced in 1969 at a press conference by the Mariner 7 Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) team just two days after the flyby.
Cassini Tastes Organic Material at Saturn’s Geyser Moon
(26.03.2008)
The Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer saw a much higher density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected. This dramatic increase in density was evident as the spacecraft flew over the area of the plumes.
Low-mass nitrogen-, oxygen-bearing, and aromatic compounds in Enceladean ice grains
Previous analyses inferred three different spectral types of Enceladean ice grains (Postberg et al. 2008, 2009a): Type 1 represents grains of almost pure water ice, Type 2 shows features consistent with grains containing significant amounts of organic material, and Type 3 is indicative of salt-rich water ice grains.
Organic compounds have been found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus
Before NASA’s Cassini mission studied Saturn and its moons for 13 years, beginning in 2004, Enceladus held many secrets. Cassini revealed that there was a global ocean between the moon’s icy crust and its rocky core.
Although the Cassini mission ended in a blaze of glory when it disintegrated in Saturn’s atmosphere, surprises from the data it collected will be released for years to come.
The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One.
In a Tweet Taunting Iran, Trump Releases an Image Thought to Be Classified
A mysterious explosion on Thursday at an Iranian space center prompted speculation that it was American sabotage, rather than an accident, that was responsible for the third successive failure of Tehran’s efforts to show it could loft satellites into orbit.
As pictures from commercial satellites of a rocket’s smoking remains began to circulate, President Trump denied Friday on Twitter that the United States was involved.
When Neptune got its stunning close-up: The Voyager 2 flyby, 30 years later
They discovered that Neptune’s magnetic field was tipped on its side. They found a giant spot called the Great Dark Spot on the planet, similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. But the event was passing, because it was no longer there when the Hubble Space Telescope looked four years later.
Administration policies seek to promote use of space nuclear power
A revised policy for approving the launch of spacecraft with nuclear power systems is the latest measure intended to support greater use of nuclear power systems in orbit and beyond.
The policy, formally issued by President Trump Aug. 20 to coincide with the latest public meeting of the National Space Council, updates guidelines for how both government and commercial spacecraft carrying space nuclear systems are reviewed and approved for launch.
Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems
This memorandum establishes processes for Federal Government launches and launches for which the Department of Transportation (DOT) has statutory authority to license as commercial space launch activities (commercial launches). These processes include transparent safety guidelines and are forward-looking and amenable to effective use of space nuclear systems for heating, power, and propulsion.
What Does a Marsquake Look Like?
(22.07.2019)
Provided by the French space agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), the seismometer detected its first marsquake on April 6, 2019. The InSight mission’s Marsquake Service, which monitors the data from SEIS, is led by Swiss research university ETH Zurich.
NASA’s InSight Detects First Likely ‚Quake‘ on Mars
(23.04.2019)
The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander’s 128th Martian day, or sol. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. Scientists still are examining the data to determine the exact cause of the signal.
Bill Nye’s experimental spacecraft that sails on sunlight declares mission success
The Planetary Society spent a decade working up to the LightSail 2 mission and scraping together the $7 million needed to get the project off the ground. All told, 50,000 supporters from 109 countries donated to the initiative, according to Planetary Society COO Jennifer Vaughn.
NASA to open International Space Station to tourists from 2020
NASA will open the International Space Station to tourists from 2020.
The US space agency said it would open the orbiting lab up to new commercial opportunities including space tourism from next year, it was announced today.
Russia cargo spacecraft undocks from orbital outpost — source
The next Progress MS-12 cargo spacecraft is due to blast off towards the ISS on July 31, 2019.
Surprise: Solar System „Force Field“ Shrinks Fast
(01.10.2010)
„If we’ve learned anything from IBEX so far, it is that the models that we’re using for interaction of the solar wind with the galaxy were just dead wrong,“ David McComas, principal investigator for the IBEX program, said during a NASA press conference Thursday.
For starters, it’s been assumed that the heliosphere’s expansion and contraction follows the sun’s roughly 11-year activity cycle, during which the flow rate of charged particles, or solar wind, fluctuates.
NASA Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space
(05.10.2018)
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system.
NASA Voyager 2 Nearing Interstellar Space, Measures Increase in Cosmic Rays
(06.10.2018)
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system.
First Likely Marsquake Heard by NASA’s InSight
This video and audio illustrates a seismic event detected by NASA’s InSight on April 6, 2019, the 128th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Three distinct kinds of sounds can be heard, all of them detected as ground vibrations by the spacecraft’s seismometer, called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS): There’s noise from Martian wind; the seismic event itself; and the spacecraft’s robotic arm as it moves to take pictures.
Dr. Katie Bouman, who led the creation of an algorithm that helped capture the first ever image of a black hole, tells us what this breakthrough means for science ?? #EHTBlackHole #BlackHole
Russian space rocket lifts off with astronauts who survived rocket failure
The Soyuz MS-12 took off at 1914 GMT, as planned, and is due to bring Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch to the International Space Station around eight hours later.
NASA Erased First Moonwalk Tapes, But Restores Copies
(17. Juli 2009) After a three-year search for a set of data tapes that promised to offer an improved view of the first moonwalk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 40 years ago this month, NASA revealed on Thursday that the tapes were more than likely erased years ago and reused. But the agency then unveiled the next best thing: restored footage based on their best broadcast quality tapes.
Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits
(16. Juli 2009) The good news is he found where they went. The bad news is they were part of a batch of 200,000 tapes that were degaussed — magnetically erased — and re-used to save money.
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: NASA finds missing moon landing tapes
(28. Juni 2009) The Sunday Express can now reveal that the missing tapes containing the original high quality images have been found.
If the visual data can be retrieved, Nasa is set to reveal them to the world as a key plank of celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the landings next month.
The tapes show in much more detail than almost anyone has previously seen the surface of the moon beneath the patriotic symbol of the US flag.
Crucially, they could once and for all dispel 40 years of wild conspiracy theories.
One giant blunder for mankind: how NASA lost moon pictures
(5. August 2005) THE heart-stopping moments when Neil Armstrong took his first tentative steps onto another world are defining images of the 20th century: grainy, fuzzy, unforgettable.
But just 37 years after Apollo 11, it is feared the magnetic tapes that recorded the first moon walk – beamed to the world via three tracking stations, including Parkes’s famous „Dish“ – have gone missing at NASA’s Goddard Space Centre in Maryland.
A desperate search has begun amid concerns the tapes will disintegrate to dust before they can be found.
India’s first lunar mission finds water on moon: Two other studies back findings from Chandrayaan-1
(24. September 2009) The man who led the mission, Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, told the Times today how pleased he was at the discovery, which significantly enhances India’s position in its space race with China.
„It’s very satisfying,“ he said. „This was one of the main objectives of Chandrayaan-1, to find evidence of water on the moon.“
The reports from the Indian mission were backed up by the findings of two other studies to be published in the journal Science on Friday, showing that the water may be actively moving around, forming and reforming as particles mixed up in the dust on the surface of the moon.
Water Ice Confirmed on the Surface of the Moon for the 1st Time!
(21.8.2018) As that statement indicates, scientists already knew that the lunar underground isn’t bone-dry. For example, in 2009, an impactor released by NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) blasted a bunch of water into space after slamming into a permanently shadowed region of Cabeus Crater, which lies near the moon’s south pole.
But it wasn’t clear from the LCROSS data where, exactly, that excavated ice originally lay — how much gray dirt once sat atop it. And, while several instruments have spotted tantalizing hints of exposed lunar ice over the years, these detections had remained unconfirmed until now.
Earth’s Oldest Known Rock Found on Moon – Scientists Explain How It Got There
This rock was formed between 4 and 4.1 billion years ago, about 12.4 miles beneath the Earth’s crust, yet the most curious thing about it that it was found far beyond our planet’s surface – on the Moon.
The rock was among the samples discovered by the Apollo 14 crew. The Apollo missions brought back a whole bunch of rock samples, and scientists have been methodically analyzing them ever since.
Chinese spacecraft makes first landing on moon’s far side
The lunar explorer Chang’e 4 touched down at 10:26 a.m., China Central Television said in a brief announcement at the top of its noon news broadcast.
Report: ISS Hole Drilled From the Inside, Cosmonaut Says
Scientists noticed a pressure leak on the ISS back on Aug. 29 of this year. They determined the source was a 2-millimeter hole in the Soyuz capsule and quickly filled it up with epoxy. NASA reported that the astronauts were never in any danger.
Since then, photos of the hole revealed that it looked an awful lot like a drill hole. Russian authorities intimated that it could have come from “deliberate spoilage,” but stopped short of making direct accusations.
NASA unveils new goals for Moon, Mars, including space privatization
(1.10.2018) These certainly mean more dollars headed toward research and development; while the original Apollo and other missions were government-funded and ultimately fell under the purview of the military (indeed, one of the primary stated goals of the Gemini and Apollo programs was to lessen the „Missile gap“ between the United States and the Soviet Union), this new concept relies heavily on private investment, corporate involvement and funding, and the eventual mining and financial rewards of „exploration and use“ of the lunar and Mars surfaces.
Space Station May Be Stranded; Here’s When U.S. Rockets Can Get There
(11.10.2018) Russia grounded all space flights after a Soyuz rocket failure Thursday, putting the International Space Station at risk and adding pressure on Boeing (BA) and SpaceX to get their rockets ready for NASA service.
Soyuz Rocket’s Launch-Abort Close Call Highlights Poor Space-Policy Decisions (Op-Ed)
(16.10.2018) One of the cornerstones of the current space policy is to somehow „privatize“ or „commercialize“ the ISS by 2024-2025 and to use the „savings“ from that privatization to help fund the program. The idea of operating the ISS profitably is so preposterous that I don’t feel a need to comment further here. Besides, from where is the funding to come before 2024-2025?
What this look back shows is consistently poor policy decisions going back at least 14 years. What will happen to NASA and U.S. spaceflight in the coming years?
NASA’s leader wants to privatize the International Space Station. It’s a remarkably terrible idea.
(9.6.2018) Since taking office as NASA’s administrator in April, Jim Bridenstine (previously a member of Congress from Oklahoma with no scientific background) has pushed this scheme, most recently in an interview this week with the Washington Post.
NASA’s new administrator says he’s talking to companies about taking over operations of the International Space Station
(5.6.2018) “We’re in a position now where there are people out there that can do commercial management of the International Space Station,” Bridenstine said in his first extensive interview since being sworn in as NASA administrator in April. “I’ve talked to many large corporations that are interested in getting involved in that through a consortium, if you will.”
ESA’s space vision presented at Paris Peace Forum
ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré attended the Paris Peace Forum this weekend, presenting the Agency’s vision for engaging humankind in multilateral cooperation for space exploration with peaceful objectives.
ESA director general argues for more collaboration as EU ramps up investment in own space agency
(6.6.2018) The EU has clashed with the head of the independent European Space Agency (ESA) over the bloc’s plans to take greater control over the continent’s space programmes, in a move that could cut the UK out of key decisions.
Soyuz carrier rocket with spacecraft launched from Plesetsk spaceport
Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with spacecraft has been launched by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces at 3:15am Moscow time from the Plesetsk spaceport, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service said.
*REFEED* Roscomos shows Soyuz MS-10 crew arriving in Baikonur
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were on board the spacecraft, which was scheduled to dock to the International Space Station (ISS) later in the day.
#SoyuzMS10: Soyuz MS-10 launch failure
A Soyuz-FG rocket launched the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft with International Space Station Expedition 57-58 crew members, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 11 October 2018, at 08:40 UTC (14:40 local time). Due to a booster error, the spacecraft entered a ballistic descend and the crew landed in Kazakhstan. Credits: NASA/Roscosmos
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe detects increase in cosmic rays as it approaches the heliosphere
Cosmic rays are fast-moving particles that originate outside the solar system. Some of these cosmic rays are blocked by the heliosphere, so mission planners expect that Voyager 2 will measure an increase in the rate of cosmic rays as it approaches and crosses the boundary of the heliosphere.
NASA’s Voyager 2 Probe Is About To Slip Beyond The Boundaries Of Our Solar System And Into Interstellar Space
Voyager 2 began it’s journey away from Earth back in 1977 and is roughly 11 billion miles from home. In 2007 it entered the outermost layer of the heliosphere, and now based on data recorded by the probe’s Cosmic Ray Subsystem instrument, NASA scientists say there’s a good chance that it is about to reach the boundary (known as the heliopause) and join Voyager 1 in the history books as the second human-made object to go interstellar. Back in August, the cosmic rays hitting the probe increased by five percent.
Just confirmed in New Horizons mission operations: spacecraft successfully completed its first course-correction on approach to its Jan. 1 flyby target in the Kuiper Belt! Details to come.
NASA signs deal with Israel Space Agency for lunar mission
“I’m thrilled to extend progress in commercial cooperation we’ve made in low-Earth orbit to the lunar environment with this new agreement with the Israel Space Agency and SpaceIL,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “Innovative partnerships like this are going to be essential as we go forward to the Moon and create new opportunities there.”
Look at the relief from @elonmusk on the @SpaceX livestream – you can tell how important this first #Block5 mission was to him
Elon Musk whining on Twitter but admitting SpaceX and Tesla were started with $4.9 billion in public funds that he grifted while cutting the public out of all decision-making and profit was a nice surprise. America = subsidize the rich, privatize profits
@NASANewHorizons: All between that, @ExpanseSYFY and 17 years of worldwide war on error (at present just on this small planet), could you guys stop that subliminal „Weltraum macht frei“ messages and think for a second next time before you name a space object? Thanks a lot @NASA.
@NASANewHorizons: Q: has any other object ever gotten an „official nickname“ before getting it’s official IAU designation?
(13.3.2018)
@NASANewHorizons: I would have chosen „Grabthar’s hammer“.
(13.3.2018)
Our next flyby object, 2014 MU69, has a new nickname! The Kuiper Belt object will be known as “Ultima Thule!”
(13.3.2018)
Mars Cube One Demo
All previous CubeSats have orbited the Earth. MarCO is the first attempt to go to another planet. By verifying that the technologies for interplanetary missions are feasible and can be developed on a short timeline, this test mission could lead to many other SmallSat applications for exploring our solar system. Some could provide similar support functions as „carry your own“ relay providers. Others could have primary scientific research functions of their own, such as radio transmissions through planetary atmospheres, imaging with small cameras, observations with other miniaturized instruments, or in-place measurements of space environments.
Liftoff of InSight
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes.
WATCH LIVE: NASA launches InSight Lander to Mars
InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will be the first lander or rover bound for Mars since Curiosity launched in 2011. It will also be the first to dig deep into the planet’s interior in an effort to understand how the planet’s geology evolved over billions of years. The probe will scan for seismic activity, keeping tabs on the planet’s so-called “marsquakes.”
Cosmic Hero: First man in space Yury Gagarin’s 80th b-day
On March 9, legendary Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, would have turned 80. His 108-minute epic orbital flight on April 12, 1961 ushered in the era of space exploration – and his charming smile became its symbol.