Space News
Mars and Earth have been getting closer to each other since the summer, and be the closest to each other for the next 13-years on Oct. 30th. You can find Mars in the night sky, after 8PM, in the east. It will appear as the brightest star in the sky. You won't need a telescope to find it -- and it should be visible from most cities. NASA is taking advantage of this close encounter, and has sent the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to the planet. On board, it's carrying the HiRISE camera -- a 1200 megapixel camera that will be taking some of the most detailed pictures of Mars ever! (Let's just hope no one made a mistake that will send the ship careening off into the Sun.)
On Oct. 17th, the Hunter's Moon -- will be partially eclipsed for those living on the Pacific. For some excellent animation, check out the Shadow & Substance website.
China's Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng continue to float around in the Shenzhou 6 spacecraft in Earth's orbit. The duo are making history, being part of China's second manned spaceflight. China is taking this opportunity of being on the world stage to hint of its rapid ascent to join the spacefaring nations, with announcements of plans to build a new space port to support the next generation Long March rockets. Incidentally, I believe this is also a historic event, in that it's the first time that Chinese food has been eaten in space. Unfortunately, the astronauts couldn't order take out, but had to bring their own food.
Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft continues to run into trouble at asteroid Itokawa. The spacecraft has lost its second stabilization wheel, and is now relying solely on its last to keep it oriented with the asteroid. The ambitious mission will see the spacecraft touchdown onto the surface of collect dust samples that will return to Earth. The sample-collect mission will have Hayabusa land twice on the surface of Itokawa -- each time it lands, it will fire pellets into the surface of the asteroid, then take off to capture the dust ejected. The spacecraft is also carrying the Minerva probe that will launch to hop across the surface of the asteroid to take pictures and temperature readings. Quite the ambitious mission -- and quite imaginative too.
On Oct. 17th, the Hunter's Moon -- will be partially eclipsed for those living on the Pacific. For some excellent animation, check out the Shadow & Substance website.
China's Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng continue to float around in the Shenzhou 6 spacecraft in Earth's orbit. The duo are making history, being part of China's second manned spaceflight. China is taking this opportunity of being on the world stage to hint of its rapid ascent to join the spacefaring nations, with announcements of plans to build a new space port to support the next generation Long March rockets. Incidentally, I believe this is also a historic event, in that it's the first time that Chinese food has been eaten in space. Unfortunately, the astronauts couldn't order take out, but had to bring their own food.
Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft continues to run into trouble at asteroid Itokawa. The spacecraft has lost its second stabilization wheel, and is now relying solely on its last to keep it oriented with the asteroid. The ambitious mission will see the spacecraft touchdown onto the surface of collect dust samples that will return to Earth. The sample-collect mission will have Hayabusa land twice on the surface of Itokawa -- each time it lands, it will fire pellets into the surface of the asteroid, then take off to capture the dust ejected. The spacecraft is also carrying the Minerva probe that will launch to hop across the surface of the asteroid to take pictures and temperature readings. Quite the ambitious mission -- and quite imaginative too.
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