Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky?
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52
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In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV.
Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a mor How the Sun affects asteroids in our neighborhood
Monday, 18 October 2021 07:37 Write a comment
Asteroids embody the story of our solar system's beginning. Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun on the same path as the gas giant, are no exception. The Trojans are thought to be left over from the objects that eventually formed our planets, and studying them might offer clues about how the solar system came to be.
Over the next 12 years, NASA's Lucy mission will visit eight asteroids—including seven Trojans—to help answer big questions about planet formation and the origins of our solar system. It will take the spacecraft about three and a half years to reach its first destination. What might Lucy find?
Like all the planets, asteroids exist in the heliosphere, the vast bubble of space defined by the reaches of our Sun's wind. Directly and indirectly, the Sun affects many aspects of existence within this pocket of the universe. Here are a few of the ways the Sun influences asteroids like the Trojans in our solar system.
Place in Space
The Sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system's mass and exerts a strong gravitational force as a result.
NASA investigating issue with Lucy solar array
Sunday, 17 October 2021 22:41 Write a comment
Engineers are investigating why one of the two solar arrays on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft may have failed to lock into place when deployed after launch Oct. 16.
Aurora under technology
Sunday, 17 October 2021 17:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:01:27
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Sometimes aurora seem to creep over the horizon and envelop our globe. Under the technological powerhouse of Canadarm, the Station's solar panels and one of our radio antennas, this timelapse passes the aurora so
Folding clothes in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 16:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:02:21
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is sharing scenes from life on board the International Space Station during his second mission “Alpha”. Some things are easier without gravity getting in the way, some things are more difficult in weightlessness. Folding clothes is one of the more difficult things to do! Luckily astronauts in space do not have to do any washing or ironing, they use their t-shirts until dirty (generally after two weeks) and then wear new ones. Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Folding clothes in space is... hard! Luckily we don't need to most
Soyuz returns cosmonauts and film crew to Earth
Sunday, 17 October 2021 11:16 Write a comment
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a cosmonaut and two spaceflight participants landed in Kazakhstan Oct. 17, nearly two days after that spacecraft caused the station to briefly lose attitude control.
Russian crew return to Earth after filming first movie in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 08:16 Write a comment
A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan's steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.
They were ferried back to terra firma by cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who had been on the space station for the past six months.
"The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!" Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.
The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for "The Challenge".
Russians return to Earth after filming first movie in space
Sunday, 17 October 2021 08:16 Write a comment
A Russian actress and a film director returned to Earth Sunday after spending 12 days on the International Space Station (ISS) shooting scenes for the first movie in orbit.
Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko landed as scheduled on Kazakhstan's steppe at 0436 GMT, according to footage broadcast live by the Russian space agency.
They were ferried back to terra firma by cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who had been on the space station for the past six months.
"The descent vehicle of the crewed spacecraft Soyuz MS-18 is standing upright and is secure. The crew are feeling good!" Russian space agency Roscosmos tweeted.
The filmmakers had blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan earlier this month, travelling to the ISS with veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to film scenes for "The Challenge".
Atlas 5 launches NASA’s Lucy asteroid mission
Saturday, 16 October 2021 10:46 Write a comment
An Atlas 5 successfully launched a NASA spacecraft Oct. 16 on a mission to study distant asteroids that may hold clues to the early history of the solar system.
NASA, ULA Launch Lucy Mission to ‘Fossils’ of Planet Formation
Saturday, 16 October 2021 09:23 Write a comment
NASA’s Lucy mission, the agency’s first to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, launched at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA's asteroid hunter Lucy soars into sky with diamonds
Saturday, 16 October 2021 09:19![NASA's asteroid hunter Lucy soars into sky with diamonds](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2021/nasas-asteroid-hunter.jpg "This photo released by NASA, shows a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard in this 2 minute and 30 second exposure photo as it launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter's Trojan Asteroids. Like the mission's namesake – the fossilized human ancestor, "Lucy," whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity's evolution – Lucy will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.")
New crew docks at China's first permanent space station
Saturday, 16 October 2021 09:17 Write a comment
China launches 3 astronauts on 6-month space station mission
Friday, 15 October 2021 20:07 Write a comment
China on Saturday sent three astronauts to its space station for a record-setting six-month stay as the country moves toward completing the new orbiting outpost
The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft carrying the three astronauts was launched by a Long March-2F rocket at 12:25 a.m. Saturday.
The two men and one woman are the second crew to move into the spacestation, which was launched last April. The first crew stayed three months.
Op-Ed | It’s Time to Rescind the Moratorium on Regulation of Commercial Spaceflight
Friday, 15 October 2021 17:18 Write a comment
As commercial human spaceflight enjoys a breakout 2021, it doesn't make sense for Congress to keep safety regulators handcuffed through 2023, argues the author of "Bringing Columbia Home."
Starliner valve investigation continues to focus on moisture interaction with propellant
Friday, 15 October 2021 16:37 Write a comment
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner was within hours of launch on its second uncrewed test flight in early August when stuck valves in the spacecraft’s propulsion system forced a launch scrub that has turned into a delay that will extend well into next year.