Tag: nasa

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#Nasa probe reaches dwarf planet #Ceres – an annotated infographic

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Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft is to begin orbiting Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Having been launched in 2007, Dawn spent a year from 2011-2012 orbiting Vesta – the asteroid belt’s second-biggest object – as part of a mission to understand how planets were formed. Now she’s moving on to Ceres. Scientists have been speculating that bright lights spotted recently on Ceres’ surface could be light reflections from ice or evidence of volcanic activity. Either that, or the good burghers of Ceres City are preparing a spectacular welcome party for Dawn’s fly-by, with an … Continue reading #Nasa probe reaches dwarf planet #Ceres – an annotated infographic

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#Beagle2 wreckage found on Mars 12 years after disappearance – an annotated infographic

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Nasa scientists may have discovered the wreckage of the UK’s pioneering Mars lander Beagle 2 on the surface of Mars in a breakthrough development more than 12 years after the spacecraft’s disappearance. The fate of Beagle 2 has been a mystery ever since the closely watched failed landing attempt on Christmas Day 2003. In a rather secretive manner, the UK Space Agency said it would release new information about the lander, a brainchild of the late British planetary scientist Professor Colin Pillinger, later this week. It’s just a shame Professor Pillinger died in May 2014. Having endured years of jokes … Continue reading #Beagle2 wreckage found on Mars 12 years after disappearance – an annotated infographic

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#Nasa readies Orion spacecraft for its first unmanned test flight – an annotated infographic

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Nasa is preparing to launch its next-generation Orion spacecraft on an unmanned test flight. The capsule is designed to carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before, to an asteroid or even to Mars. E&T has covered Orion’s journey so far, from testing the capsule parachutes for a Martian landing to the day when Nasa engineers rolled the Orion capsule out of its processing hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, having finished its assembly. E&T also has reams of space-related information gathered together on our dynamically updated Space news page, so you may wish to bookmark that page … Continue reading #Nasa readies Orion spacecraft for its first unmanned test flight – an annotated infographic

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#Rosetta comet landing site identified – J marks the spot – an annotated infographic

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Scientists have selected a landing site on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the first-ever comet landing attempt in November. Dubbed ‘Site J’, the spot where the Philae lander carried by the Rosetta spacecraft will attempt to touch down lies on the head of the comet. The location was chosen from five candidate sites as part of a complicated evaluation process, which forced the engineers to many trade-offs. “As we have seen from recent close-up images, the comet is a beautiful but dramatic world – it is scientifically exciting, but its shape makes it operationally challenging,” said Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander … Continue reading #Rosetta comet landing site identified – J marks the spot – an annotated infographic

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#Nasa OCO-2 satellite will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere – an annotated infographic

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Nasa is scheduled to launch its first spacecraft dedicated to measuring carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere on July 2014. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission will provide a more complete, global picture of the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide, as well as “sinks” – such as forests and oceans – which absorb and trap the gas. OCO-2 will be Nasa’s second attempt to launch a satellite specifically for the purpose of monitoring carbon dioxide. The first OCO launch in 2009 unfortunately failed to reach orbit. At approximately 400 parts per million, atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at … Continue reading #Nasa OCO-2 satellite will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere – an annotated infographic

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@NASA readies #MAVEN spacecraft for flight to Mars – an annotated graphic

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To paraphrase Jonathan King (not a sentence we ever thought we’d open a blog post with), everyone’s gone to the Mars. Earlier this week, it was India sending its Mangalyaan mission to the Red Planet. Next, it’s the turn of NASA, which intends to pitch its MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft on a year-long mission to Mars. MAVEN’s raison d’etre is to help us understand what became of Mars’ historically thick, water-rich atmosphere. One theory is that as the planet’s magnetic field declined due to the planet’s core cooled, solar winds gradually stripped away the atmosphere. What a … Continue reading @NASA readies #MAVEN spacecraft for flight to Mars – an annotated graphic

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NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 reach the edge of our solar system – an annotated graphic

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1977 – a momentous year. The Queen’s Silver Jubilee, punk rock, Star Wars, Red Rum, the Yorkshire Ripper, Elvis, Jimmy Carter, Concorde and NASA firing off a couple of spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, on a grand tour of known planets and beyond. Now approximately 18 billion kilometres from the Sun, both spacecraft continue to beam back data from their journey as they reach the edge of our solar system, poised at the gateway to interstellar space. Our infographic today details the history of both spacecraft. E&T covered this news last year and it’s a story worth reading for some … Continue reading NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 reach the edge of our solar system – an annotated graphic

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#Skylab space station launched 40 years ago – an annotated graphic

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May 14, 1973: America launched its first space station, Skylab. June 29, 1979: James Bond’s first space adventure Moonraker opened in cinemas. This is not a coincidence. July 11, 1979: NASA plans to boost Skylab to a higher orbit using the snazzy new Space Shuttle, but that project gets delayed and Skylab ultimately disintegrates on re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere, raining debris down on the peculiarly Scottish-sounding Balladonia region of Western Australia. More Skyfall than Skylab, one might say. Space fans can enjoy our infographic today about the history of Skylab, below. We’ve also included the tremendously exciting movie poster … Continue reading #Skylab space station launched 40 years ago – an annotated graphic

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Killer #asteroid threatening Planet Earth – an annotated graphic

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While we puny humans go about our days, worrying about trivial matters like shoes, the Oscars and the efficacy or otherwise of coalition governments, an asteroid with – so we’re told – the destructive power of an H-bomb is hurtling towards our favorite green and blue planet, Earth. And not for the first time, either. These pesky asteroids keep setting themselves on an inexorable collision course with Planet Earth like stone kamikaze pilots at regular intervals across the ages of Man. So far, their aim hasn’t been too good, mostly missing us altogether, but a couple of doozies have snuck through … Continue reading Killer #asteroid threatening Planet Earth – an annotated graphic