From February 20 to 22, we conducted the touchdown operation (TD1-L8E1) of Hayabusa2 on the surface of asteroid Ryugu. Figure 1 shows an image taken with the Optical Navigation Camera – Wide angle (ONC-W1) during the spacecraft ascent after touchdown.
The Japanese asteroid sampling mission Hayabusa2 – launched on December 3, 2014 aboard an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima, Japan – completed its long flight to asteroid Ryugu (formerly 1999 JU3) before – on September 21 – achieving the milestone of deploying its two tiny MINERVA-II robots/rovers, followed later by the deployment of the MASCOT lander. Then, on February 21 (UTC), Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on the surface.
In der Nacht auf den 22. Februar 2019 setzte die japanische Raumsonde Hayabusa für kurze Zeit auf der Oberfläche des Asteroiden Ryugu auf und aktivierte ihren Probensammler.
Dramatic Dark Smudge Appears Where Hayabusa2 Landed on Ryugu Asteroid
Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe touched down successfully on the Ryugu asteroid late last week, blasting its surface and—hopefully—collecting samples. A new image released by JAXA shows a distinctive smudge on the asteroid where the procedure took place, but the cause of the dark surface feature isn’t immediately clear.
Zunächst soll bloß eine Puppe mit der neuen SpaceX-Raumkapsel auf die Internationale Raumstation gelangen. Doch das Unternehmen des Milliardärs Elon Musk plant bereits bemannte Missionen – noch in diesem Jahr.
NASA, SpaceX clear Crew Dragon for critical March 2 test flight
NASA managers held a flight readiness review Friday and cleared SpaceX to press ahead with work to ready a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon commercial ferry ship for launch March 2 on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.
ESA plans mission to smallest asteroid ever visited
ESA’s planet-defending Hera mission will set a new record in space. The asteroid investigator will not only be the first spacecraft to explore a binary asteroid system – the Didymos pair – but the smaller of these two worldlets, comparable in size to Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, will become the smallest asteroid ever visited.
Earth’s atmosphere stretches out to the Moon – and beyond
A recent discovery based on observations by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, shows that the gaseous layer that wraps around Earth reaches up to 630 000 km away, or 50 times the diameter of our planet
Hubble helps uncover origin of Neptune’s smallest moon Hippocamp
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, along with older data from the Voyager 2 probe, have revealed more about the origin of Neptune’s smallest moon. The moon, which was discovered in 2013 and has now received the official name Hippocamp, is believed to be a fragment of its larger neighbour Proteus.
NASA to Share Results of Effort to Recover Mars Rover
NASA will discuss the status of its Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in a media briefing at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) Wednesday, Feb. 13, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Read more in Chapter “Feature – NASA’s Insight Mars Lander” /
Mehr unter “Feature – NASA’s Insight Mars Lander”
Russische Medaille für Alexander Gerst
Der deutsche ESA-Astronaut Alexander Gerst ist am Dienstag im Sternenstädtchen bei Moskau mit der russischen Medaille Kosmos ohne Grenzen ausgezeichnet worden. Er nahm sie im Kosmonauten-Ausbildungszentrum( ZPK) Juri Gagarin entgegen.
NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Shrinking its Mars Orbit to Prepare for Mars 2020 Rover
The MAVEN spacecraft today is starting a campaign to tighten its orbit around Mars to prepare to serve as a data-relay satellite for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which launches next year.
MAVEN Spacecraft Shrinking its Orbit to Prepare for Mars 2020 Rover
NASA’s 4-year-old atmosphere-sniffing Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission is embarking on a new campaign today to tighten its orbit around Mars. The operation will reduce the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft’s elliptical orbit from 3,850 to 2,800 miles (6,200 to 4,500 kilometers) above the surface and prepare it to take on additional responsibility as a data-relay satellite for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which launches next year.
The World’s 1st Interplanetary Cubesats Go Silent Beyond Mars
The first small spacecraft to ever leave Earth’s orbit have been silent for more than a month, NASA said today (Feb. 5) in an announcement about the pair of Mars Cube One probes nicknamed MarCO.
ISS suffers another leak, but this time of the messy, non-dangerous, type
Around 11 liters of water leaked into the International Space Station (ISS) during work to prepare for the future installation of the Urine Transfer System (UTS). Although the incident was minor compared to the more worrying pressure leak caused by a hole in the since-departed Soyuz MS-09, it once again highlights the day-to-day maintenance required on the orbital outpost that will play into lessons learned ahead of crewed deep space exploration.
Mars Rover Opportunity: 15 years anniversary and silence / 15 jähriges Jubiläum und derzeit ohne Kontakt
Opportunity: 15 Jahre auf dem Mars und noch etwas Hoffnung
Vor 15 Jahren landete der Marsrover Opportunity auf der Oberfläche des Roten Planeten. Doch richtige Freude kommt bei der NASA angesichts dieses seltenen Jubiläums nicht auf: Seit Juni hat das Team nämlich nichts mehr von Opportunity gehört. Trotzdem versucht man den Rover weiterhin regelmäßig zu kontaktieren und lauscht nach Signalen von ihm. (25. Januar 2019)
NASA Probe Snaps 1st Photos from Just a Mile Above Asteroid Bennu and the View’s AMAZING!
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is orbiting an asteroid closer than any spacecraft has ever orbited a body — and it shows in an incredible pair of photographs that the team released yesterday (Jan. 24). The spacecraft slipped into orbit around the asteroid, called Bennu, on Dec. 31, after the team carefully mapped the object to design a safe path for the probe. That was a challenge, since Bennu is the smallest space rock that’s ever been orbited.
There are a few questions that we get all the time at The Planetary Society. Look up at space at night from a dark location and you can see innumerable stars. Why, then, do photos of things in space not contain stars? How come the black skies of the Moon contain no stars in Chang’e photos? The answer: The stars are there, they’re just too faint to show up.
Neue Forschungsergebnisse: Saturn-Ringe sind wohl jünger als gedacht
Der majestätische Saturn ist viele Milliarden Jahre alt. Doch sein Markenzeichen hat er wohl noch gar nicht so lange, wie ein Forscherteam herausgefunden hat.
We’re looking at Saturn at a very special time in the history of the Solar System, according to scientists. They’ve confirmed the planet’s iconic rings are very young – no more than 100 million years old, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.
NASA’s Cassini Data Show Saturn’s Rings Relatively New – Solar System Exploration: NASA Science
The rings of Saturn may be iconic, but there was a time when the majestic gas giant existed without its distinctive halo. In fact, the rings may have formed much later than the planet itself, according to a new analysis of gravity science data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
via Solar System Exploration: NASA Science – January 21, 2019 at 04:30PM
Hubble: Wide Field Camera 3 scheint wieder fit
Die Beobachtungen mit der Wide Field Camera 3 an Bord des Weltraumteleskops Hubbles dürften bald weitergehen: Die NASA hat das Instrument gestern wieder in den normalen Betriebsmodus versetzt. Nach einigen weiteren Tests könnte der normale Beobachtungsbetrieb bald wieder aufgenommen werden. In der letzten Woche hatte es Probleme mit der Kamera gegeben.
Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 Recovered, Collecting Science Data
The Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 was brought back to full operational status and completed its first science observations just after noon EST today, Jan. 17. The instrument autonomously shut down on Jan. 8 after internal data erroneously indicated invalid voltage levels. The Wide Field Camera 3 was installed on Hubble in May 2009 during the last servicing mission. It has taken over 240,000 observations to date and is the most used instrument of Hubble’s current complement.
The moon is a lifeless world once again. The cotton plants that sprouted on the moon’s far side aboard China’s Chang’e 4 lander are dead, done in by the bitter cold of the lengthy lunar night, GBTimes reported today (Jan. 16).
Ocean Moons, Promising Targets in Search for Life, Could Be Dead Inside
For more than two decades, scientists have wondered whether extraterrestrial life may be flourishing deep below the icy coatings boasted by moons in our outer solar system. Spacecraft like the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn have stumbled on evidence that some of their moons hide global oceans, warmed by the pull of the giant planet they orbit. And oceanic explorers much closer to home have discovered dynamic communities living in darkness around geologic features on the ocean floor. Combine the two and it’s easy to be carried away with dreams of alien seafloors teeming with microbes. But new research is looking deeper, into the rock itself, and suggesting that these worlds may be dead inside — not just biologically, but geologically as well.
The ongoing partial government shutdown has grounded a NASA aircraft used for astronomical observations amid reviews about how to operate that program in the future. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 with a 2.5-meter telescope mounted in its fuselage, has been unable able to perform any science flights since the shutdown started Dec. 22, project officials said during a town hall session about the program Jan. 8 during the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) here.
Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway: NASA’s Proposed Lunar Space Station
The Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway is a proposed NASA program that would bring astronauts to the moon to operate a lunar space station. The concept has generated a wealth of research and numerous political discussions since 2017, especially because NASA’s stated goal under the Trump administration is to return to the moon before going to Mars.
Cotton Seed Sprouts on the Moon’s Far Side in Historic First by China’s Chang’e 4
Before China finished packing up its Chang’e 4 lunar lander to be blasted off on a never-before-accomplished journey to the far side of the moon, scientists slipped in a small tank holding plant seeds. And now, the team announced, a cotton seed has sprouted.
China Details Future Moon Plans, Including Polar Research Station
China’s bold moon-exploration plans don’t stop with the pioneering Chang’e 4 mission, which made the first-ever soft landing on the lunar far side on Jan. 2.
The State Council Information Office of China (SCIO) held a press conference Monday (Jan. 14) to discuss that epic touchdown, and to give an overview of the nation’s future activities on Earth’s nearest neighbor.
Hubble Space Telescope’s Glitchy Eye Should Clear Up Soon
The Hubble Space Telescope’s main eye on the universe should be back up and running soon. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) took itself offline last week as a safety precaution, after onboard software noticed anomalous voltage readings within the instrument. But Hubble team members have now determined that voltage levels actually remained within the normal range, ascribing the glitch to a telemetry issue rather than a power-supply problem.
Hubble: Probleme mit Wide Field Kamera 3 / Problems with Wide Field Camera 3
Hubble: Wide Field Camera 3 macht Probleme
Die Beobachtungen mit der Wide Field Camera 3, dem fortschrittlichsten Kamerasystem an Bord des Weltraumteleskops Hubbles für Bilder im sichtbaren Bereich des Lichts, sind gestern Abend wegen eines Hardware-Problems ausgesetzt worden. Während die Ursache gesucht wird, gehen die Beobachtungen mit den anderen drei Instrumenten weiter.
Hubble Space Telescope’s Camera Eye Suffers Malfunction
A hardware problem has put the main camera onboard the Hubble Space Telescope out of operation, according to a brief statement released by NASA today (Jan. 9). The issue with the Wide Field Camera 3 occured on Jan. 8 at 12:23 p.m. EST (1723 GMT), according to the statement. NASA did not provide any details about the glitch itself beyond saying that it was caused by a hardware problem and that the camera carries redundant electronics that could be used to get the instrument running again.
New Horizons: Vorüberflug an 2014 MU69 offenbar erfolgreich
Die NASA-Sonde New Horizons hat ihren Vorüberflug am Kuipergürtel-Objekt 2014 MU69 am frühen Morgen des Neujahrstages offenbar erfolgreich absolviert. Darauf deuten zumindest die diagnostischen Daten hin, die im Laufe des gestrigen Nachmittags empfangen wurden. Erste Bilder sollte es auch schon geben, die werden aber noch bis zu einer Pressekonferenz heute Abend zurückgehalten.
via astronews.com – der deutschsprachige Onlinedienst für Astronomie, Astrophysik und Raumfahrt – January 5, 2019 at 12:35PM
Nach 6,5 Milliarden Kilometern: Nasa-Sonde erreicht „Ultima Thule“ am Rand unseres Sonnensystems – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Wissenschaft
Nach jahrelanger Reise ist es am Neujahrstag so weit: Die Nasa-Sonde „New Horizons“ fliegt am Himmelskörper Ultima Thule vorbei. Noch nie hat eine Sonde ein so weit entferntes Objekt besucht.
With Ultima Thule Flyby, NASA Probe Helps Unlock Secrets of Planetary Formation
A close view of an ultra-distant fossil is helping to answer questions about the formation of planets throughout the universe. NASA’s New Horizons probe buzzed the outer solar-system object early on New Year’s morning, making the first flyby of such a primitive object. Because 2014 MU69 has remained virtually untouched since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, it can reveal new details about that era. Already the first puzzling photos are helping to prove models of the early solar system.
After Ultima Thule Flyby, New Horizons Hits Pause on Data Dump
The New Horizons spacecraft fell silent yesterday (Jan. 4), but the communications pause is expected, and scientists on the mission will have plenty of data to keep them busy during the intermission, mission staff members said during a news conference held Jan. 3.
‚Meet Ultima Thule‘: 1st Color Photo of New Horizons Target Reveals a Red ‚Snowman‘
We now know what Ultima Thule looks like, and it’s not a bowling pin.
The first resolved photos of Ultima Thule have come in from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which zoomed past the frigid faraway object just after midnight yesterday (Jan. 1). The historic imagery reveals that the 21-mile-long (33 kilometers) Ultima is a „contact binary“ composed of two roughly spherical lobes.
Find further news on this topic in chapter „Solar System“
Weitere Nachrichten zu diesem Thema finden Sie im Kapitel „Sonnensystem“
OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft reaches Asteorid Bennu / OSIRIS-REx erreicht Asteroiden Bennu
Zoom! Asteroid Bennu Slips Past in OSIRIS-REx Flyby View
A spooky new series of photos of the asteroid Bennu show the diamond-shaped space rock approaching the camera and receding into the distance during a trio of flybys by a NASA spacecraft.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Enters Close Orbit Around Bennu, Breaking Record – OSIRIS-REx Mission
At 2:43 p.m. EST on December 31, while many on Earth prepared to welcome the New Year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 70 million miles (110 million kilometers) away, carried out a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters – and broke a space exploration record. The spacecraft entered into orbit around the asteroid Bennu, and made Bennu the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft.
via OSIRIS-REx Mission – January 1, 2019 at 02:06PM
NASA-Sonde Osiris Rex kommt Asteroid Bennu näher
Die Sonde Osiris Rex tritt in eine nahe Umlaufbahn des Asteroids Bennu ein. In den nächsten Jahren soll sie die Oberfläche berühren und Proben zur Erde bringen.
At 2:43 p.m. EST (7:43 GMT) on December 31, 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft went into orbit around asteroid Bennu — setting new records for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft and the closest orbit of a planetary body by any spacecraft.
via Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com – January 7, 2019 at 03:09PM
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has started orbiting asteroid Bennu
After NASA’s OSIRIS-REx arrived at asteroid Bennu in early December, its ground team quickly started measuring and mapping out the celestial body. They needed all the information they could get in order to enter Bennu’s orbit, since the asteroid has such a small gravity pull. Sounds like the scientists were able to get what they needed, because OSIRIS-REx has successfully started circling the asteroid at 2:43 PM ET on December 31st.
Record Breaker! NASA Probe Slips into Orbit Around Asteroid Bennu
A NASA asteroid-sampling probe has begun circling its space-rock target, setting a new record for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft. The OSIRIS-REx probe achieved orbit around the 1,640-foot-wide (500 meters) near-Earth asteroid Bennu with an eight-second engine burn today (Dec. 31) at 2:43 p.m. EST (1943 GMT).
Die Sonde „Osiris Rex“ ist in eine extrem nahe Umlaufbahn um den Asteroiden Bennu eingeschwenkt. Sie kreist seit Montagabend in 1,75 Kilometer Entfernung vom Asteroidenkern um Bennu. So dicht habe sich nie zuvor ein Raumfahrzeug seinem Untersuchungsobjekt angenähert, teilte die Amerikanische Astronomische Gesellschaft mit.
Die Sonde „Osiris Rex“ ist in eine extrem nahe Umlaufbahn um den Asteroiden „Bennu“ eingeschwenkt. Sie kreist seit gestern Abend in 1,75 Kilometer Entfernung vom Asteroidenkern um „Bennu“. So dicht habe sich nie zuvor ein Raumfahrzeug seinem Untersuchungsobjekt angenähert, teilte die Amerikanische Astronomische Gesellschaft mit.
Chang’e-4: Landung auf der erdabgewandten Seite des Mondes
Die chinesische Raumfahrtagentur CNSA hat offenbar erfolgreich eine Sonde auf der erdabgewandten Seite des Mondes gelandet. Der Lander Chang’e-4 setzte in der vergangenen Nacht um 3.26 Uhr MEZ im Südpol-Aitken-Becken des Mondes auf. Der Rover an Bord soll Medienberichten zufolge noch heute mit der Erkundung der Umgebung beginnen.
via astronews.com – der deutschsprachige Onlinedienst für Astronomie, Astrophysik und Raumfahrt – January 5, 2019 at 12:34PM
„Chang’e 4“: China schickt Kieler Messgerät zum Mond – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Wissenschaft
An Bord der chinesischen Mondsonde ist auch ein Messgerät aus Kiel, entwickelt vom Physiker Wimmer-Schweingruber aus Kiel. Das Gerät soll das Krebsrisiko für Astronauten erforschen – und hat einen wichtigen weiteren Auftrag.
Roboter an Bord der „Chang’e 4“: Chinas Mond-Rover rollt los – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Wissenschaft
Die historische Landung der Sonde „Chang’e 4“ auf der Mond-Rückseite ist geglückt. Nun ist auch der mitgebrachte Roboter unterwegs. Es stehen zahlreiche Experimente an.
Chinese Moon Rover Making Tracks on Lunar Far Side (Photo)
China’s far-side moon rover is already busy exploring its exotic new home. On Wednesday night (Jan. 2), the Chang’e 4 rover and its stationary-lander companion pulled off the first-ever soft touchdown on the lunar far side, coming to a rest inside the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater. The six-wheeled rover, known as Yutu 2, isn’t pausing to catch its breath, as a newly released photo shows. Yutu 2 has already put a fair bit of space between itself and the lander, trundling over near the rim of a small crater on the floor of Von Kármán, which itself lies within an even larger impact feature — the 1,550-mile-wide (2,500 km) South Pole-Aitken Basin
China Makes Historic 1st Landing on Mysterious Far Side of the Moon
China’s robotic Chang’e 4 mission touched down on the floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater Wednesday night (Jan. 2), pulling off the first-ever soft landing on the mysterious lunar far side. Chang’e 4 will perform a variety of science work over the coming months, potentially helping scientists better understand the structure, formation and evolution of Earth’s natural satellite. But the symbolic pull of the mission will resonate more with the masses: The list of unexplored locales in our solar system just got a little shorter.
China’s Yutu 2 Rover Is Driving on the Far Side of the Moon
China’s robotic Chang’e 4 lander-rover duo pulled off the first-ever soft touchdown on the moon’s largely unexplored far side. And today (Jan. 3), the rover rolled onto the gray dirt floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater, creeping down twin ramps from a previous position atop the stationary lander.
Find further news on this topic in chapter „Solar System“
Weitere Nachrichten zu diesem Thema finden Sie im Kapitel „Sonnensystem“
Resist the ‚Dark Side‘ of Moon Names: The Lunar Farside Is Plenty Bright
Pink Floyd has a lot to answer for when it comes to popular ideas about the moon, but here’s how to always keep your lunar sides straight.
Let’s start with the farside, where China’s Chang’e 4 lander touched down yesterday (Jan. 2), making China the first country to land a spacecraft there. Our moon has a nifty trick: It’s tidally locked to Earth, which means that one half of the lunar surface always faces us, while the other half always faces away from us.
Raumfahrt und Mythos: Warum es die „dunkle Seite des Monds“ nicht gibt
Erstmals ist eine Sonde auf der Rückseite des Mondes gelandet, die oft irrtümlich die „dunkle Seite“ genannt wird. Licht bekommt sie schon – nur ist eine Mondhälfte von der Erde aus nie sichtbar. Eine kurze Erklärung.
Dies ist die letzte Ausgabe in diesem Jahr. Die nächste Spacecraft Mission News wird am 10. 01.19 erscheinen. Ich wünsche allen Lesern schöne Feiertage und einen guten Start ins neue Jahr!
This will be the last issue for this year. Spacecraft Mission News will return on 10.01.19. I wish you a great holiday season and a good start into the new year!
Front Page / Titelseite
Alexander Gerst returns from ISS / Alexander Gerst kehrt von der ISS zurück
Alexander Gerst ist wieder zurück auf der Erde: All-Zeit vorbei
Fast 200 Tage lang war Astronaut Alexander Gerst auf der ISS, jetzt ist er zurück: Um kurz nach sechs Uhr landete er in Kasachstan. Noch am Abend wird er in Deutschland erwartet.
Rückkehr des ESA-Astronauten Alexander Gerst am 20.12.2018
Der deutsche ESA- Astronaut Alexander Gerst beendet seinen zweiten Aufenthalt auf der Internationalen Raumstation. Er ist bisher der zweite ESA-Astronaut, der das Kommando über die Internationale Raumstation inne hatte. Damit geht auch seine Horizons-Mission zu Ende, bei der über 50 Experimente im schwerelosen Forschungslabor der ISS für die Partner durchgeführt wurden.
via European Space Agency – December 20, 2018 at 07:42AM
Watch Alexander Gerst’s return to Earth
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst is wrapping up his second stay on the International Space Station, the Horizons mission, running over 50 experiments for the partners of the weightless research laboratory as well as maintaining the outpost. Alexander became the second ESA astronaut to take over command of the International Space Station.
via European Space Agency – December 20, 2018 at 07:43AM
NASA Astronaut, Crewmates Returns to Earth After 197-Day Mission
Three members of the International Space Station’s Expedition 57 crew, including NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, returned to Earth Thursday, safely landing at 12:02 a.m. EST (11:02 a.m. local time) in Kazakhstan. Auñón-Chancellor and her crewmates, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev, launched June 6 and arrived at the space station two days later to begin their mission. Over 197 days, they circled the globe 3,152 times, covering 83.3 million miles.
Most distant encounter: Spacecraft New Horizons approaching Ultima Thule / Bisher entfernteste Begegnung: Raumsonde New Horizons wird bald Ultima Thule erreichen
New Horizons Spacecraft on Target for Superclose Flyby of Ultima Thule
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will indeed get very close to the mysterious, distant object Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day. Mission principal investigator Alan Stern today (Dec. 18) gave the all-clear for New Horizons to stay on its optimal flyby course, which will take the probe within just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1.
What to Expect When New Horizons Visits 2014 MU69, Ultima Thule
New Horizons is rapidly approaching its New Year’s encounter with the most distant world ever visited, 2014 MU69. Closest approach will be at a distance of 3,500 kilometers at about 05:33 on 1 January UTC, and it’ll happen at a zippy 14.16 kilometers per second. Space fans can’t wait to see pictures of this distant, tiny world, an ancient relic of the formation of our solar system, which the mission and NASA have nicknamed “Ultima Thule,” until it is formally named. (I think we should all get to give it our own nicknames. I’m partial to „Moo,“ or maybe „Peanut.“)
via | The Planetary Society – December 19, 2018 at 09:25PM
Hell Yes, NASA’s New Horizons Will Buzz Right Past Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day
Today was the last possible day for mission controllers to adjust the trajectory of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Ultima Thule, a distant Kuiper Belt object. With no detectable dangers in sight, NASA has given the green light for the spacecraft to remain along its optimal path—a trajectory that will result in an intimate flyby in just two weeks time.
New Horizons‘ Flyby of Ultima Thule (KBO 2014 MU69)
After the successful flyby of Pluto on July 14th 2015, the interplanetary probe New Horizons is continuing it’s mission targeting 2014 MU 69, nickamed Ultima Thule, a remote trans-neptunian Kuiper Belt Object.
via TheSkyLive: The Solar System at your Fingertips – December 19, 2018 at 09:26PM
Saturn loses its rings / Saturn verliert seine Ringe
Saturn’s Rings Are Beautiful, But They Won’t Last
Chances are, you wouldn’t recognize Saturn without its trademark thick band of rings. But if you could travel 300 million years into the future, you would need to, because by then, chances are those rings would be gone — and they could disappear even faster.
Die typischen Ringe des Planeten verschwinden allerdings nicht plötzlich, sondern allmählich. Sie bestehen zu großen Teilen aus Wassereis und regnen sozusagen auf die Saturnoberfläche. Astronomen der Nasa haben ausgerechnet, dass jede Sekunde etwa eineinhalb Tonnen Eis durch die Schwerkraft des Planeten runterkommen. Wenn das so weitergeht, hat Saturn in 300 Millionen Jahren keine Ringe mehr. Das Team hat noch andere Verluste eingerechnet und kommt dann sogar auf nur noch 100 Millionen Jahre. Das ist ganz schön kurz, wenn man es mit den vier Milliarden Jahren vergleicht, die der Saturn alt ist.
via Deutschlandfunk Nova – December 19, 2018 at 09:24PM
Bröckelndes Geröll: Der Saturn verliert seine Ringe – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Wissenschaft
100.000 Ringe umfassen den Saturn, ihr äußerer hat einen Durchmesser von nahezu einer Million Kilometer. Erstaunlich dünn sind die Ringe, der dickste misst gerade mal 100 Meter. Eine Schallplatte mit dem gleichen Verhältnis von Dicke zu Durchmesser wäre nicht mal einen Zehntausendstel Millimeter hoch.
Ringless Saturn? The Planet’s Famous Feature May Be Surprisingly Young.
Saturn’s rings are among the most eye-catching sights in the solar system—and yet they haven’t always been there. A new analysis suggests the planet’s majestic bangles might be so young that if dinosaurs looked up, they could have witnessed an otherwise plain, straw-colored Saturn putting a ring on itself—one that would have been briefly enormous.
Saturn is losing its rings: NASA says they will be gone in 100m years
The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles, a new NASA study has revealed. Ring particles are caught in a balancing act between the pull of Saturn’s gravity, which wants to draw them back into the planet, and their orbital velocity, which wants to fling them outward into space. ‚We estimate that this ‚ring rain‘ drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool from Saturn’s rings in half an hour,‘ said James O’Donoghue of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Steph Curry Tells Former Astronaut Scott Kelly Moon-Landing Comment Was ‚Made in Jest‘
Steph Curry is sorry for all the trouble his moon-landing comments have caused. On a podcast that aired last week, the NBA superstar said he doesn’t believe that humanity actually landed on the moon. The offhand remark (which was echoed by several other NBA players on the podcast) went viral, prompting a wave of reaction from folks imploring Curry to clarify or repudiate his stance, and to educate himself about NASA and spaceflight history.
China‘s spacecraft to the backside if the moon / Chinas schickt Raumsonde zur Rückseite des Monds
Chang’e-4 spacecraft enters lunar orbit ahead of first ever far side landing – SpaceNews.com
China’s Chang’e-4 lander and rover spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit Wednesday following a four-and-half-day flight to the moon. The spacecraft entered an elliptical lunar polar orbit with a perilune of 100 kilometers at 3:45 a.m. Eastern (08:45 UTC) Dec. 12 following a lunar orbit insertion burn.
China’s Chang’e-4 lunar mission, the first-ever soft-landing endeavor on the lunar farside, launched successfully on 8 December at 02:23 Beijing time (7 December at 18:23 UTC) via a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The launch carried a lander and a rover toward the Moon. On 12 December at 8:45 Beijing time (16:45 UTC), the spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit, preparing for a landing in early January.
via | The Planetary Society – December 13, 2018 at 06:48AM
Weltraum: Wie China als erste Nation auf der Rückseite des Mondes landen will – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Wissenschaft
Die letzten Vorbereitungen zur Reise „hinter den Mond“ laufen. Der Start der Sonde „Chang’e 4“ ist für Freitagabend deutscher Zeit vom Weltraumbahnhof im westchinesischen Xichang geplant, wie Quellen im Umfeld des chinesischen Raumfahrtprogramms der Deutschen Presse-Agentur bestätigten.
In der Fußgängerzone in Essen konnte man letztens schon einen detaillierten Blick auf die Mond-Rückseite werfen (dank eines kurzen Gastspiels des ‚Museum of the Moon‘, oben) – aber heute gegen 19:20 MEZ soll mit Chinas Chang’e-4 zum ersten Mal ein Lander nebst Rover und schon im Mai gestartetem Kommunikations-Satellit (Grafik darunter) zum Aitken-Becken (Karte in der Mitte) geschickt werden
via Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null – December 8, 2018 at 08:43AM
Chang’e 4 in Pictures: China’s Mission to the Moon’s Far Side
China launched its Chang’e 4 mission to the far side of the moon on Dec. 8, 2018 Beijing Time (Dec. 7 EST/GMT). China is the first country ever to send a rover to soft-land on the lunar farside.
China Launches 1st Mission to Land on the Far Side of the Moon
The first-ever surface mission to the far side of the moon is underway. China’s robotic Chang’e 4 spacecraft streaked away from Earth today (Dec. 7), launching atop a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at about 1:23 p.m. EST (1823 GMT; 2:23 a.m. on Dec. 8 local China time). If all goes according to plan, Chang’e 4 will make history’s first landing on the lunar far side sometime in early January. The mission, which consists of a stationary lander and a rover, will perform a variety of science work and plant a flag for humanity in a region that remains largely unexplored to date.
China ist als erste Weltraumnation zu einer Reise auf die Rückseite des Mondes aufgebrochen. Eine Rakete vom Typ „Langer Marsch 3B“ hob am Samstag vom Raumfahrtbahnhof Xichang in der südwestchinesischen Provinz Sichuan ab, um die Mondsonde „Chang’e 4“ mit einem Roboterfahrzeug an Bord in Richtung des Erdtrabanten zu schicken.
Chang’e-4: Erdabgewandte Seite des Mondes im Visier
China macht Ernst in Sachen Monderforschung: Aktuell ist schon der zweite Rover auf dem Weg zum Erdtrabanten – und diesmal mit einem besonderer Ziel. Das Gefährt soll nämlich die erdabgewandte Seite des Mondes erforschen, die bislang nur aus dem Orbit erkundet wurde. An Bord des Landers von Chang’e-4 ist auch ein Instrument, das Kieler Physiker beigesteuert haben.
via astronews.com – der deutschsprachige Onlinedienst für Astronomie, Astrophysik und Raumfahrt – December 11, 2018 at 06:48AM
Astronaut Nick Hague describes „violent shaking“ during failed Soyuz rocket launch
For the first time, both astronaut Nick Hague and his wife are sharing dramatic details about a failed rocket launch in October. Hague was in a Soyuz rocket headed for the International Space Station when a violent booster failure forced them to abort the mission mid-flight, 31 miles above earth. „It was going perfect for the first two minutes,“ Hague told CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. „And then all of a sudden there was this violent shaking side to side. … And the alarm’s going off. And I see a red light that’s lit up and it says that you’ve had an emergency with the booster.“
Auf ganz einfache Fragen gibt es oft keine einfachen Antworten. Wo, zum Beispiel, ist eigentlich unser Sonnensystem zu Ende? Irgendwo weit hinter dem letzten Planeten Neptun muss es sein, irgendwo weit hinter dem zum Kleinplanten degradierten Pluto – und all den anderen Objekten des sogenannten Kuipergürtels, der Rumpelkammer unserer kosmischen Nachbarschaft, durch die gerade die Nasa-Sonde „New Horizons“ fliegt.
It’s Official! NASA’s Famed Voyager 2 Spacecraft Reaches Interstellar Space
It’s time to say goodbye to one of the most storied explorers of our age: Voyager 2 has entered interstellar space, NASA announced today (Dec. 10).Voyager 2, which launched in 1977, has spent more four decades exploring our solar system, most famously becoming the only probe ever to study Neptune and Uranus during planetary flybys. Now, it has joined its predecessor Voyager 1 beyond the bounds of our sun’s influence, a milestone scientists weren’t able to precisely predict when would occur. And intriguingly, humanity’s second crossing doesn’t look precisely like data from the first journey out.
What’s Next for NASA’s Voyager 2 in Interstellar Space?
Voyager 2 has passed an incredible milestone in its journey to explore the solar system by entering interstellar space, but neither its travels nor its science are ending any time soon.
Ultima Thule in Sight! New Horizons Probe Snaps New Photo of Its Target
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed home another glimpse of the distant, icy body it will zoom past just three weeks from now. The small object Ultima Thule swims amid a sea of distant stars in the new composite photo, which New Horizons snapped with its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera at around midnight EST (0500 GMT) on Dec. 1.
Das Jahr 2019 beginnt mit einem Highlight: Am 1. Januar 2019 soll die Sonde New Horizons in einem Abstand von nur 3500 Kilometern am Kuipergürtel-Objekt 2014 MU69 vorüberfliegen. Vor einigen Tagen wurde dazu ein erstes Manöver zur Kurskorrektur durchgeführt. Nie zuvor hatte man den Kurs einer Sonde in so großer Entfernung angepasst.
