Space Exploration

Pioneer 5 Pioneer 5  mounted to its  Thor Able  launcher. Mission type Interplanetary space research Operator NASA Harvard designation 1960 Alpha 1 COSPAR ID 1960-001A SATCAT  no. 27 Spacecraft properties Manufacturer TRW Launch mass 43 kilograms (95 lb) Start of mission Launch date March 11, 1960, 13:00:07 UTC Rocket Thor DM-18 Able IV Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-17A End of mission Last contact April 30, 1960 Orbital parameters Reference system Heliocentric Eccentricity 0.1689 Perihelion 0.7061 astronomical units (105,630,000 km; 65,640,000 mi) Aphelion 0.9931 astronomical units (148,570,000 km; 92,310,000 mi) Inclination 3.35 degrees Period 311.6 days Pioneer 5 (also known as Pioneer P-2, and Thor Able 4, and nicknamed the "Paddle-Wheel Satellite") was a spin-stabilized space probe in the NASA Pioneer program used to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth...

Spotting asteroids has become pretty routine for astronomers working with some of the most powerful telescopes on the planet, but every once in a while a seemingly mundane space rock proves to be something special. Late last year, scientists spotted a brand new asteroid, named it 2017 YE5, and added it to the long, long list of near-Earth objects that have already been observed. Astronomers are now saying that the rock isn’t what it seems to be. In late June the rock made its closest pass of Earth for the next 170 years, so scientists decided to spend a little more time studying it before it heads back out again. When they zoomed in on what they thought was a regular ol’ asteroid what they began to see double. 2017 YE5, it turns out, isn’t one asteroid. It’s two. Twin asteroids are incredibly rare, at least here in our Solar System, and they’re a huge treat for scientists whenever they’re spotted. Sometimes larger asteroids are orbited by much smaller rocks, but “equal mass...

The last time a person visited the  moon  was in December 1972, during NASA's Apollo 17 mission. Over the decades, NASA planned to send people back to the moon but has yet to succeed. Astronauts often say the biggest reasons why humans haven't returned to the lunar surface are budgetary and political hurdles - not scientific or technical challenges. Private companies like  Blue Origin  or  SpaceX  may be the first entities to return people to the moon. Landing 14 people on the moon remains one of NASA's greatest achievements, if not the greatest. Astronauts collected rocks, took photos, performed experiments, planted some flags, and then came home. But those week-long stays during the Apollo program didn't establish a lasting human presence on the moon. More than 45 years after the most recent crewed moon landing - Apollo 17 in December 1972 - there are plenty of reasons to return people to Earth's giant, dusty ...

NASA has shared a landscape view of a surface on Planet Mars that features what appears like crawling spiders. Image of the Day The image, which the U.S space agency posted as part of its Image of the Day series on Friday, was taken at the South Pole of the Red Planet on May 13. The image shows a carbon ice cap that enveloped the region during the winter as the sun returns in the spring. It shows what appears like silhouettes of spiders emerging from the Martian surface. Araneiform Terrain These arachnid-like features, however, are not actual spiders. These features are what scientists call "araneiform terrain." The mounds form when carbon dioxide ice beneath the surface heats up and is released. NASA said that the active seasonal process involved does not occur on Earth, but like dry ice on our planet, the carbon dioxide ice on Mars sublimates when it warms, causing it to change from solid to gas and become trapped below the surface. How Ara...

7 August 1959 Explorer 6 Mission type Earth science Operator NASA Harvard designation 1959 Delta 1 COSPAR ID 1959-004A SATCAT  no. 15 Mission duration 60 days Spacecraft properties Manufacturer Jet Propulsion Laboratory TRW Launch mass 64.4 kilograms (142 lb) Start of mission Launch date August 7, 1959, 14:24:20 UTC Rocket Thor DM-18 Able III Launch site Cape Canaveral  LC-17A End of mission Last contact October 6, 1959 Decay date July 1, 1961 Orbital parameters Reference system Geocentric Regime Highly elliptical Semi-major axis 7,870.7 kilometers (4,890.6 mi) Eccentricity 0.7588469982147217 Perigee 237 kilometers (147 mi) Apogee 41,900 kilometers (26,000 mi) Inclination 47.0 degress Period 754 minutes RAAN 49.68 degrees Argument of perigee 47.26 degrees Mean anomaly 341.89 degrees Mean motion 1.89 Epoch 29 September 1959 15:00:37 UTC Revolution  no. 100 Explorer...

Written by David Trang Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Palaeontology :- Nearly all lunar impact craters smaller than 15 kilometers in diameter come in one basic shape, a circular bowl with a rim around it. However, there is a category, called concentric craters, with the basic crater and rim, plus a dough nut-shaped feature within the crater that is concentric to the crater rim. Jeffrey Gillis-Davis (University of Hawai‘i), the late B. Ray Hawke, and I (still at the University of Hawai‘i) decided to take on the task of determining how these concentric craters formed. After long meticulous measurements of their shape, determining their composition, examining their spatial relationship on the lunar surface, and calculating their age, we find that these craters are regular impact craters that experienced intrusions of magma beneath them. Each intrusion pushed on the material around the crater causing the construction of the concentric dough nut-shaped topographic ridge. ...

Washington : The US Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump-nominated Representative Jim Bridenstine to lead the US space agency. The Senate narrowly on Thursday voted 50-49 on partisan lines to confirm Bridenstine to serve as NASA's 13th administrator. Bridenstine, a pilot in the US Navy Reserve and former executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium, was elected to the US Congress in 2012 to represent Oklahoma's First Congressional District. He currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. "I am pleased to have Rep. Bridenstine nominated to lead our team. I look forward to ensuring a smooth transition and sharing the great work the NASA team is doing," acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement. "It is an honour to be confirmed by the US Senate to serve as NASA Administrator," said Bridenstine. Bridenstine will take over from Lightfoot,...