January 2018
SLS ushers transformation of deep space exploration
... need for payload elements such as antennas to be folded for launch and then deployed in space, thus decreasing spacecraft complexity and risk. Reducing transit time by enabling a direct trajectory without gravitational assists reduces mission risk...
March 2018
Plumes on Europa - tasting an extra-terrestrial ocean
...+) from an active plume should be detectable with the on-board particle detector instruments. Testing a model of the JUICE spacecraft 16 m antenna system in September 2017. Europa’s ocean The presence of water on Europa has been known about for...
June 2018
Cosmic communications and the anthropology of outer space
... “we have no clue.” Each of the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 carries a 12-inch gold-plated phonograph ...’ of the solar system taken by Voyager 1 (pictured right). The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system...
29 April 2016
SpaceX Announces Plans for Mars Mission.
... to the surface. Dragon's SuperDraco thruster is key to allowing it to land on Marsh. They system would be used to slow the spacecraft's descent through the Martian atmosphere and to land on the surface. SpaceX and NASA signed an amended agreement...
19 November 2018
Kepler officially retires after receiving final "goodnight" commands
...the planet surface. Although no further observations will take place, Kepler’s legacy still continues. ”We know the spacecraft's retirement isn't the end of Kepler's discoveries," said Jessie Dotson, Kepler's project scientist at NASA's Ames Research...
03 December 2018
OSIRIS-REx officially arrives at Bennu today
...a detailed survey that will last over a year. The spacecraft’s primary science goals are to map the chemistry and mineralogy... that it can be captured in the sampler head. The spacecraft has enough nitrogen to allow three sampling attempts, to collect ...
