February 18th, 2016
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It is Sol 1257 for the NASA Curiosity Mars rover. New imagery has been released showing the surrounding Mars landscape as the rover continues its mission since landing on the Red Planet in August 2012. A new map has been posted showing the route driven by Curiosity through the 1255 Martian day, […]
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The Chelyabinsk superbolide of February 15, 2013 created a whopper of a mess just south of the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. But where in space did the Chelyabinsk space rock come from? Spanish astrodynamicists, brothers Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos and Sverre J. Aarseth, a scientist of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) […]
European scientists are in mourning regarding the passing of Philae, the little lander that could…and did. On November 12, 2014, Philae made a spectacular comet landing, coming to rest on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It was ejected from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta orbiter following a 10-year journey through space to reach the target. Mums […]
The Curiosity rover on Mars is deep into Sol 1252 today. Ken Herkenhoff at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center reports that the rover’s samples of dune sand were deposited onto the surface, “but it appears that the sample was partly blown by the wind.” There is enough sample left to investigate with various rover […]
Progress is being made on readying for liftoff next month of the European Space Agency’s 2016 ExoMars mission/ That mission to be launched via a Proton booster includes a Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and an Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM). Schiaparelli is the name of that entry, descent and landing demonstrator module. […]
Under the space radar screen is “Homesteading in Space – Inspiring the Nation through Science Fiction.” Today at the California NanoSystems Institute/ UCLA in Los Angeles, California, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-sponsored a look at humanity’s space future. Sci-fi/fact Roughly 70 space scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, along with story-tellers, artists, […]
A partnership between the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and NASA is in place “to develop guidance to prepare for any potential impact of our planet by a large natural object.” A Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group (PIERWG) Charter was signed in August 2015 and is now available for public viewing […]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1249. Mars researcher, Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff explains that the rover has traversed roughly 8 miles (12 kilometers) since landing in August 2012, and another drive is planned for Sol 1249. “The tactical planning team decided to forgo targeted remote […]
NASA’s InSight Mars lander is now safely back at its maker – Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado. The spacecraft was successfully shipped back from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Denver on Saturday, Feb. 6. Its “return to sender” flight was onboard a C-17 aircraft from Vandenberg AFB to Buckley AFB. InSight […]
The folks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are offering your own controllable view of a full-circle panorama beside “Namib Dune” on Mars. The Curiosity mission’s examination of dunes in the Bagnold field, along the rover’s route up the lower slope of Mount Sharp, is the first close look at active sand dunes anywhere other […]
