October 2015
Baikonur, Kibo and beyond: Japan’s leading role in space
... rocket equipped with an improved mechanism. The Soyuz TMA-17M rocket illuminated at night. And it’s not just asteroids: Japan is conducting planetary exploration too. Currently, the Akatsuki (‘Dawn’) probe is on its space odyssey - in late July...
November 2016
Rosetta - an eventful cruise phase
...started preparing for the next challenge: the first asteroid fly-by ever attempted by a European spacecraft. ...of the relative position between Rosetta and the asteroid: by taking pictures of the asteroid in the weeks before the approach and measuring...
November 2021
Megasatellite habitat at Ceres
... counter-rotating cylinders that could be built using materials extracted from the Moon, and later from asteroids, to provide Earth-like 1g artificial gravity. However, the size of the cylinder is limited by mechanical constraints, so sooner or later...
12 December 2018
OSIRIS-REx discovers ingredients for water on Bennu
... Bennu. OSIRIS-REx will remain in orbit close to the asteroid until mid-February 2019, when it pulls away to initiate ...used to corroborate ground-based telescopic observations of the asteroid and to confirm that model predictions of Bennu’s actual...
January 2018
Creating a viable cislunar economy
... the spectral content of the ejecta plume. Water content was measured in the 5-10 percent range. In addition, many asteroids, including NEOs, are thought to contain large quantities of water. And we believe there is water on Mars. Second, water...
May 2017
Humanity is moving towards a new reality
... Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) to help coordinate a better defence against asteroids, we are a long way from a global space governance system for planetary defence. In fact, as UNISPACE+50 prepares to convene...
