Spacecrafts

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ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in-depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe. Credit: ESAThe Southwest Research Institute’s Ultraviolet…

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in-depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe. Credit: ESAJuice spacecraft’s RIME antenna, designed to…

In October 2021, the NASA spacecraft Lucy took off for its 12-year journey to ten different asteroids with a focus towards the Jupiter trojans, a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. This is the first time NASA has conducted a mission to study these far-off asteroids. But before it reaches the trojans, first it will travel to two asteroids located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And as it races to meet the first asteroid in its path, astronomers have finally…

The CAPSTONE mission is planned for launch no earlier than May 2022. Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus will deliver CAPSTONE into a trajectory toward the Moon. Credit: Illustration by NASA/Daniel RutterToday, November 13, CAPSTONE will reach the Moon and become the first spacecraft to enter into a unique, elongated orbit that will support <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div…

Two NASA spacecraft at Mars — one on the surface and the other in orbit — have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet.The high-speed barrages last year sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet, and carved out craters nearly 500 feet (150 meters) across, scientists reported Thursday in the journal Science.The larger of the two strikes churned out boulder-size slabs of ice, which may help researchers look for ways future…

By NASA September 26, 2022DART Animation. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as…

The Microscope satellite, a CNES mission with ESA cooperation to test the universality of freefall. The equivalence principle states that all objects should fall freely under gravity at the same rate, independent of their mass and composition, and is the founding principle of General Relativity, Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity. This principle has been tested by experiments on the ground, confirming with an accuracy of 1013 that objects with different characteristics experience the same acceleration from Earth’s…

Sails helped humans navigate the oceans and seas for hundreds of years before the first engines could be developed. But now sails may also help humans explore the cosmos. NASA is working towards tests that could demonstrate that solar sails could be a viable way for space-based travel. Solar sails are mirror-like devices mounted on spacecraft that capture the Sun's light. The captured light exerts radiation pressure on the sails and thus propels the spacecraft through the vacuum of space. Solar sails have been used…