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Comet Interceptor
The ''Comet Interceptor'' is a robotic spacecraft mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) planned for launch in 2029. The spacecraft will be "parked" at the Sun-Earth L2 point and wait for up to three years for a long-period comet to fly by at a reachable trajectory and speed. The Principal Investigator is Geraint Jones, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom. The maximum cost of the spacecraft bus is set at €150M, excluding science instruments and launch services. Overview Long-period comets have highly eccentric orbits and periods ranging from 200 years to millions of years, so they are usually discovered only months before they pass through the inner Solar System and return to the distant reaches of the outer Solar System, which is too little time to plan and launch a mission. Therefore, ESA will "park" the ''Comet Interceptor'' spacecraft on a stable halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point and wait for the discovery of a suitable comet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Space Agency
, owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (12052189474).jpg , size = , caption = , acronym = , established = , employees = 2,200 , administrator = Director General Josef Aschbacher , budget = €7.2 billion (2022) , language = English and French (working languages) , website = , logo = European Space Agency logo.svg , logo_caption = Logo , image_caption = European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) Main Control Room The European Space Agency (ESA; french: Agence spatiale européenne , it, Agenzia Spaziale Europea, es, Agencia Espacial Europea ASE; german: Europäische Weltraumorganisation) is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARIEL (spacecraft)
Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series by Yūichi Sasamoto * "Ariel" (''Firefly'' episode) (2002) * "Ariel" (''Once Upon a Time''), a 2013 episode of ''Once Upon a Time'' * Ariel (''The Little Mermaid''), a red-haired mermaid who is fascinated by life on dry land and falls in love with Prince Eric in the 1989 Disney film ''The Little Mermaid'' *Ariel, a planet visited in an episode of ''Space: 1999'' Literature * "Ariel" (poem), a 1965 poem by Sylvia Plath ** ''Ariel'' (poetry collection), a 1965 collection of poetry by Sylvia Plath containing the eponymous poem *T. S. Eliot's Ariel poems, a series of poems by T. S. Eliot * ''Ariel'' (novel), a 1941 science fiction novel by Alexander Beliaev * ''Ariel'' (novel series), a 1986 science fiction novel series by Yūichi Sasamoto * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coma (cometary)
The coma is the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet, formed when the comet passes close to the Sun on its highly elliptical orbit; as the comet warms, parts of it sublimate. This gives a comet a "fuzzy" appearance when viewed in telescopes and distinguishes it from stars. The word ''coma'' comes from the Greek "kome" (κόμη), which means "hair" and is the origin of the word ''comet'' itself. The coma is generally made of ice and comet dust. Water composes up to 90% of the volatiles that outflow from the nucleus when the comet is within 3-4 AU of the Sun. The H2O parent molecule is destroyed primarily through photodissociation and to a much smaller extent photoionization. The solar wind plays a minor role in the destruction of water compared to photochemistry. Larger dust particles are left along the comet's orbital path while smaller particles are pushed away from the Sun into the comet's tail by light pressure. On 11 August 2014, astronomers released ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universe Today
Universe Today (U.T.) is a popular North American-based non-commercial space and astronomy news website. The domain was registered on December 30, 1998, and the website went live in March 1999, founded by Canadian Fraser Cain. The ''Universe Today'' assumed its current form on July 24, 2003, featuring astronomy news and space-related issues. By early September 2005, the forum section merged with '' Bad Astronomy'' as a combined site with the BAUT forum. During April 2011, the Association of British Science Writers noted that ''Universe Today'' decided not to make preparations for reporting on embargoed stories until they are public knowledge. Emily Lakdawalla said that she relies on ''Universe Today'' and '' Bad Astronomy'' to "give ... an independent look at big news stories". Publications ''Universe Today'' has published two books, which are available both as e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made av ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ''Scientific American'' is owned by Springer Nature, which in turn is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. History ''Scientific American'' was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus Porter (painter), Rufus Porter in 1845 as a four-page weekly newspaper. The first issue of the large format newspaper was released August 28, 1845. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent Office. It also reported on a broad range of inventions including perpetual motion machines, an 1860 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln, and the universal joint which now can be found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interstellar Object
An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star, such as certain asteroids and comets (including exocomets). In the latter case, the object may be called an interstellar interloper. The first interstellar objects discovered were rogue planets, planets ejected from their original stellar system (e.g., OTS 44 or Cha 110913−773444), though they are difficult to distinguish from sub-brown dwarfs, planet-mass objects that formed in interstellar space as stars do. The first interstellar object which was discovered traveling through our Solar System was 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017. The second was 2I/Borisov in 2019. They both possess significant hyperbolic excess velocity, indicating they did not originate in the Solar System. Earlie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann
73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, also known as Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, is a periodic comet that has a 5.4 year orbital period and that has been actively disintegrating since 1995. It last came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in March 2017 when fragment 73P-BT was separating from the main fragment 73P-C. Fragments 73P-BU and 73P-BV were detected in July 2022. The main comet came to perihelion on 25 August 2022 The comet was 0.97 AU from the Sun and 1 AU from Earth. It will be less than 80 degrees from the Sun from 25 May 2022 until August 2023. Comet Schwassmann–Wachmann 3 was one of the comets discovered by astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann, working at the Hamburg Observatory in Bergedorf, Germany. It began disintegrating on its re-entry to the inner Solar System in 1995, in a reaction triggered by the Sun's heating of the comet as it emerged from the colder regions of the outer Solar System. Comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann is a parent body of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, previously referred to as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), is an astronomical observatory currently under construction in Chile. Its main task will be carrying out a synoptic astronomical survey, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The word '' synoptic'' is derived from the Greek words σύν (syn "together") and ὄψις (opsis "view"), and describes observations that give a broad view of a subject at a particular time. The observatory is located on the El Peñón peak of Cerro Pachón, a 2,682-meter-high mountain in Coquimbo Region, in northern Chile, alongside the existing Gemini South and Southern Astrophysical Research Telescopes. The LSST Base Facility is located about away by road, in the town of La Serena. The observatory is named for Vera Rubin, an American astronomer who pioneered discoveries about galaxy rotation rates. The Rubin Observatory will house the Simonyi Survey Telescope, a wide-field reflecting teles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System
The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) is a robotic astronomical survey and early warning system optimized for detecting smaller near-Earth objects a few weeks to days before they impact Earth. Funded by NASA, and developed and operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, the system currently has four 0.5-meter telescopes, two located apart in the Hawaiian islands, at Haleakala (ATLAS-HKO, Observatory code T05) and Mauna Loa (ATLAS-MLO, Observatory code T08) observatories, one located at the Sutherland Observatory (ATLAS–SAAO, Observatory code M22) in South Africa, and one at the El Sauce Observatory in Rio Hurtado (Chile) (Observatory code W68). ATLAS began observations in 2015 with one telescope at Haleakala, and a two-telescopes version became operational in 2017. The project then obtained NASA funding for two additional telescopes in the Southern hemisphere, which became operational in early 2022. Each telescope surveys one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pan-STARRS
The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS1; obs. code: F51 and Pan-STARRS2 obs. code: F52) located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical cameras, telescopes and a computing facility that is surveying the sky for moving or variable objects on a continual basis, and also producing accurate astrometry and photometry of already-detected objects. In January 2019 the second Pan-STARRS data release was announced. At 1.6 petabytes, it is the largest volume of astronomical data ever released. Description The Pan-STARRS Project is a collaboration between the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Maui High Performance Computing Center and Science Applications International Corporation. Telescope construction was funded by the U.S. Air Force. By detecting differences from previous observations of the same areas of the sky, Pan-STARRS is discovering many new asteroids, comets, variable stars, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Electric Propulsion
Solar electric propulsion (SEP) refers to the combination of solar cells and electric thrusters to propel a spacecraft through outer space. This technology has been exploited in a variety of spacecraft by the European Space Agency (ESA), the JAXA (Japanese Space Agency), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA. SEP has a significantly higher specific impulse than normal chemical rockets, thus requiring less propellant mass to be launched with a spacecraft. The technology has been evaluated for missions to Mars. Overview Solar electric propulsion combines solar panels on spacecraft and one or more electric thrusters, used in tandem. There are many different types of electric thrusters, including a so-called ion thruster, a term that is often incorrectly used to describe all types of electric thrusters. It is also possible to generate electricity from the Sun without using photovoltaic panels, such as with solar concentrators and a Stirling engine. A 50 kilowa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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