Video: NASA's OSIRIS-REx celebrates perfect departure maneuver from asteroid Bennu
Friday, 04 June 2021 12:40
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is 328,000 miles, or 528,000 kilometers, away from the asteroid Bennu, having fired its engines on May 10 to initiate a return trip to Earth. The spacecraft is on track to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth on September 24, 2023.
Mission engineers had planned to do a small thruster firing last week to ensure the spacecraft stays on the correct path back to Earth. But, the May 10 departure maneuver was calculated and executed so precisely, the mission team decided not to do a clean-up maneuver last week.
The next possible maneuver adjustment could occur in 2022.
ExoMars rover twin begins Earth-based mission in Mars Terrain Simulator
Friday, 04 June 2021 12:37 Write a comment
The replica ExoMars rover that will be used in the Rover Operations Control Centre to support mission training and operations is fully assembled and has completed its first drive around the Mars Terrain Simulator at ALTEC, in Turin, Italy.
Juice rotation in the clean room
Friday, 04 June 2021 12:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:00:43
Rotating Juice in the clean room at ESA's technical heart in the Netherlands before transfer in the Large Space Simulator.
Juice will undergo environmental testing in ESTEC’s Large Space Simulator to replicate the extreme heating and cooling cycles that the spacecraft will experience on its way to Jupiter.
Once in the Jovian system the mission will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Week in images: 31 May - 04 June 2021
Friday, 04 June 2021 12:29 Write a comment
Week in images: 31 May - 04 June 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Rocket team to discern if our star count should go way up
Friday, 04 June 2021 12:20 Write a comment
The universe contains a mind-boggling number of stars—but scientists' best estimates may be an undercount. A NASA-funded sounding rocket is launching with an improved instrument to look for evidence of extra stars that may have been missed in stellar head counts.
The Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment-2, or CIBER-2, mission is the latest in a series of sounding rocket launches that began in 2009. Led by Michael Zemcov, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, CIBER-2's launch window opens at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on June 6, 2021.
Moon habitat blueprint at Venice Biennale
Friday, 04 June 2021 11:30 Write a comment
A detailed concept for a lunar habitat, created by one of the world’s leading architectural firms with ESA technical support, is currently on show at the Biennale in Venice. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, originator of many of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, worked with ESA on a semi-inflatable habitat design which could be part of a long-term vision for an international Moon settlement.
House bill would designate space as critical infrastructure
Friday, 04 June 2021 09:13 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — A new House bill would classify space as a critical infrastructure and require the federal government to establish guidelines to protect it.
The Space Infrastructure Act, to be introduced June 4 by Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.
ExoMars rover twin begins Earth-based mission in ‘Mars Terrain Simulator'
Friday, 04 June 2021 09:00 Write a comment
The replica ExoMars rover that will be used in the Rover Operations Control Centre to support mission training and operations is fully assembled and has completed its first drive around the Mars Terrain Simulator at ALTEC, in Turin, Italy.
Earth from Space: Warsaw, Poland
Friday, 04 June 2021 07:00 Write a comment
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Warsaw – the capital and largest city of Poland.
No evidence mystery UFOs are alien spacecraft, report finds: NYTimes
Friday, 04 June 2021 05:15 Write a comment
There is no evidence that unexplained aerial phenomena spotted in recent years by US military personnel are aliens, an upcoming government report quoted by The New York Times Thursday said, but officials still can't explain the mysterious aircraft.
The newspaper, which cited senior administration officials briefed on the findings of the highly anticipated report, said they were able to confi United Airlines unveils plan to revive supersonic jet travel
Friday, 04 June 2021 05:15 Write a comment
United Airlines announced plans Thursday to buy 15 planes from airline startup Boom Supersonic in a move that could revive the high-speed form of air travel after the Concorde was wound down in 2003.
Under the deal, United would purchase Boom's "Overture" aircraft once the planes meet "United's demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements" with an aim to start passenger travel SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches cargo to space station
Friday, 04 June 2021 03:14 Write a comment
SpaceX launched tiny squids, medical experiments and improved solar panels for the International Space Station from Florida on Thursday afternoon.
The 7,300-pound cargo mission rose into a mostly cloudy sky aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as planned at 1:29 p.m. EDT from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Eight minutes after launch, SpaceX recovered the first-stage booster by landing TikToker in space: Virgin Galactic to send up well-known researcher
Friday, 04 June 2021 03:14 Write a comment
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic announced Thursday it will send researcher Kellie Gerardi, a well-known figure on TikTok, into space to conduct experiments for several minutes while weightless.
The move presents an ideal opportunity for the company to flaunt its ambitions not only to send wealthy tourists on pleasure rides costing $200,000 or more, but also to advance science.
The NASA's OSIRIS-REx celebrates perfect departure maneuver from Asteroid Bennu
Friday, 04 June 2021 03:14 Write a comment
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is 328,000 miles, or 528,000 kilometers, away from the asteroid Bennu, having fired its engines on May 10 to initiate a return trip to Earth. The spacecraft is on track to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth on September 24, 2023.
Mission engineers had planned to do a small thruster firing last week to ensure the spacecraft stays on the correct path back to Ear NASA's Juno to get a close look at Jupiter's Moon Ganymede
Friday, 04 June 2021 03:14 Write a comment
On Monday, June 7, at 1:35 p.m. EDT (10:35 a.m. PDT), NASA's Juno spacecraft will come within 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) of the surface of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. The flyby will be the closest a spacecraft has come to the solar system's largest natural satellite since NASA's Galileo spacecraft made its penultimate close approach back on May 20, 2000.
Along with striking imagery