A spacecraft could use gravity to prevent a dangerous asteroid impact
Monday, 18 October 2021 12:16
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The idea of avoiding asteroid impacts has featured prominently in the public's mind for decades—especially since the release of movies such as Deep Impact and Armageddon. But is using a nuclear explosion the best way to deal with potentially hazardous space rocks? Decidedly not. If given enough time, there is a much more effective (and safer) way to deal with any object on a collision course with Earth—a gravity tractor. Now, Dr. Yohannes Ketema from the University of Minnesota has developed a flight pattern that makes this simplest of all asteroid defense mechanisms that much more effective.
Gravity tractors have been around for a while. They use the gravity of an artificial body to pull an object toward it and slightly change its trajectory. Over long periods, this would pull the hazardous object out of the current trajectory into a safer one. It also has the advantage of not requiring any direct impact or explosion on the surface of the asteroid itself.
Three hours to save Integral
Monday, 18 October 2021 11:00 Write a comment
On 22 September, around midday, ESA’s Integral spacecraft went into emergency Safe Mode. One of the spacecraft’s three active ‘reaction wheels’ had turned off without warning and stopped spinning, causing a ripple effect that meant the satellite itself began to rotate.
NASA expects vaccination mandates to have little impact on Artemis 1 preparations
Monday, 18 October 2021 10:30 Write a comment
As NASA prepares to install the Orion spacecraft on the first Space Launch System rocket, agency officials played down any effect coronavirus vaccine mandates will have on final preparations for the launch.
TrustPoint raises $2 million for GPS alternative
Monday, 18 October 2021 09:00 Write a comment
TrustPoint Inc., a startup developing a global navigation satellite system, has raised $2 million in seed funding from venture capital firm DCVC.
PlanetIQ announces highest-performance radio occultation satellite
Monday, 18 October 2021 09:00 Write a comment
PlanetIQ is raising money to accelerate its campaign to establish a 20-satellite Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation constellation by 2024.
China's space station worth ever Yuan
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
The three Chinese astronauts who are now on board Tianhe, the core module of Tiangong space station, will work and live there for about six months. This is the longest mission so far for Chinese astronauts.
The progress of China's manned space endeavors is evident. Eighteen years after sending its first astronaut into space, the country is building its own space station as a platform for h New US military branch gets its own intelligence wing
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
The wing itself is an interim organisation, which will eventually be transformed into the National Space Intelligence Center, taking over part of the activities which at present are carried out by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.
US Space Force has established its own intelligence group, called Space Force Intelligence Activity (SFIA), which will be based at the Wright-Patte AAC Clyde Space to supply core avionics to Arctic weather satellite
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
AAC Clyde Space, a leading New space company, has been selected by OHB Sweden to deliver core avionics worth approx. 797 kEUR (approx. 8.2 MSEK) to ESA's Arctic Weather Satellite. The order has been preceded by a tightening of the original requirements of the systems.
OHB Sweden is the mission prime contractor for the Arctic Weather Satellite, providing the satellite platform and system in Research to boost astronaut health for future space missions
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
New research backed by the UK Space Agency will look to solve challenges such as muscle loss and isolation stress that astronauts face during long missions
The research, which uses the low gravity (microgravity) environment of the International Space Station and other facilities that provide similar conditions to space, could also potentially benefit people who suffer from conditions such Using the Moon to address digital inequality
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
Most Americans take access to reliable, fast wireless internet (Wi-Fi) for granted. Yet, in underserved communities, reliable internet access can be as elusive as it is on the Moon. NASA is working to solve both challenges.
Digital inequality or inadequate internet access is a socioeconomic concern across the United States, and the pandemic has worsened the divide. In Cleveland, home of NA Dwarf planet Vesta a window to the early solar system
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
The dwarf planet Vesta is helping scientists better understand the earliest era in the formation of our solar system. Two recent papers involving scientists from the University of California, Davis, use data from meteorites derived from Vesta to resolve the "missing mantle problem" and push back our knowledge of the solar system to just a couple of million years after it began to form. The paper NASA launches Lucy probe to explore Jupiter asteroids
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
NASA launched a spacecraft called Lucy on a 12-year mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids for the first time on Saturday, gathering new insights into the solar system's formation.
The Atlas V rocket responsible for propelling the probe took off at 5:34 am local time (0934 GMT) from Cape Canaveral.
Named after an ancient fossil of a pre-human ancestor, Lucy will become the first s Study demonstrates Lunar composition mapping capabilities of SwRI-created space instrument
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
A new study by a recent graduate of Southwest Research Institute's joint graduate program in physics with The University of Texas at San Antonio demonstrates the ability of the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) to determine the composition of areas on the lunar surface by measuring the reflectance of far-ultraviolet (far-UV) light.
LAMP is an SwRI-created, far-UV spectrograph instrument a Late-time small-body disruptions can protect the Earth
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
If an asteroid is determined to be on an Earth-impacting trajectory, scientists typically want to stage a deflection, where the asteroid is gently nudged by a relatively small change in velocity, while keeping the bulk of the asteroid together.
A kinetic impactor or a standoff nuclear explosion can achieve a deflection. However, if the warning time is too short to stage a successful deflec Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky?
Monday, 18 October 2021 08:52 Write a comment
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