On December 13th 2018, Virgin Galactic announced that it had successfully flown its spacecraft to the edge of space, marking a milestone for the would be consumer space flight company. The spacecraft VSS Unity lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, attached to the belly of a larger craft called the WhiteKightTwo, aka VMS Eve. At 43,000 feet, Unity was released from Eve as it fired its rocket motor, eventually achieving a velocity of Mach 2.9.
Pilots, Mark Stucky and Frederick Sturchow continued their rocket burn for 60 seconds, propelling the VSS Unity to an altitude of 54.1 miles, which is 1.4 miles above what NASA considers to the boundaries of space. At that height, it is possible to witness the stars against the background of the darkness of space. Then, with its tail folded it reentered the atmosphere, at supersonic speed, and glided back to the Space Port runway in the Mojave desert.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
The OSIRIS-REx Space Craft Discovers Water On Asteroid Bennu
On December 10th 2018, NASA announced that its spacecraft, OSIRIS-REx has discovered water on the asteroid, Bennu. OSIRIS-REx, which was launched two years ago, arrived at its destination, on December 3rd, after a 1.2 billion mile journey. The spacecraft is within twelve miles of the asteroid's surface. The presence of water was detected by OSIRIS-REx's two on board spectrometers, OVIRS and OTES.
OSIRIS-REx which stands for, Origins, Spectral Interpretations, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, is expected to slip into orbit around Bennu on December 31st 2018. The spacecraft's mission is to to grab a sizable sample of the asteroid and return it to Earth. After achieving an orbit of about one mile above the asteroid's surface, OSIRIS-REx is expected, at some point, to swoop down and tap Bennu.
At that point, the spacecraft will use its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), to suck up a two once sample of material. That maneuver, which will not be an actual landing, is expected to last only about 5 seconds. OSIRIS-REx is then expected to stay in orbit around Bennu until 2021, before beginning its journey home. The spacecraft will bring its payload back to Earth, landing in a Utah desert in September 2023.
OSIRIS-REx which stands for, Origins, Spectral Interpretations, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, is expected to slip into orbit around Bennu on December 31st 2018. The spacecraft's mission is to to grab a sizable sample of the asteroid and return it to Earth. After achieving an orbit of about one mile above the asteroid's surface, OSIRIS-REx is expected, at some point, to swoop down and tap Bennu.
At that point, the spacecraft will use its Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), to suck up a two once sample of material. That maneuver, which will not be an actual landing, is expected to last only about 5 seconds. OSIRIS-REx is then expected to stay in orbit around Bennu until 2021, before beginning its journey home. The spacecraft will bring its payload back to Earth, landing in a Utah desert in September 2023.
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