Tag: asteroid

Japanese spacecraft’s gifts: Asteroid chips like charcoal

They resemble small fragments of charcoal, but the soil samples collected from an asteroid and returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft were hardly disappointing. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japanese-spacecraft-gifts-asteroid-chips.html…

Major changes coming over the horizon for the global space industry

The attention of the world has recently been captured by the return of Japan’s Hayabusa-2 asteroid mission, the activities of Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture, and China’s Chang’e 5 moon landing, yet a quiet revolution is taking place in the global space industry. This revolution started in the 2010s and its full impact on global space industry should be measured over the…

Telescope photographs the next target asteroid for Hayabusa2

On December 10, 2020 (Hawai’i Standard Time), the Subaru Telescope imaged the small asteroid 1998 KY26, the target of Hayabusa2’s extended mission. The positional data for 1998 KY26 collected during the observations will be used to more accurately determine the orbital elements of this object. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-telescope-asteroid-hayabusa2.html…

AI Just Controlled a Military Plane For the First Time Ever

On December 15, the United States Air Force successfully flew an AI copilot on a U-2 spy plane in California, marking the first time AI has controlled a U.S. military system. Dr. Will Roper, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, reveals how he and his team made history: With call sign ARTUu, we trained uZero…

World’s space achievements a bright spot in stressful 2020

Astronauts blasted into orbit from the U.S. for the first time in nearly a decade, three countries sent spacecraft hurtling toward Mars, and robotic explorers grabbed rocks from the moon and gravel from an asteroid for return to Earth. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-world-space-bright-stressful.html…

World’s first gas sample from deep space confirmed

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has confirmed that the gas collected from the sample container inside the re-entry capsule of the asteroid explorer, Hayabusa2, is a gas sample originating from asteroid Ryugu. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-world-gas-sample-deep-space.html…

Japan’s space agency finds ample soil, gas from asteroid

Officials from Japan’s space agency said Tuesday they have found more than the anticipated amount of soil and gases inside a small capsule the country’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft brought back from a distant asteroid this month, a mission they praised as a milestone for planetary research. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-japan-space-agency-ample-soil.html…

Black ‘sand-like’ asteroid dust found in box from Japan probe

Black sandy dust found in a capsule brought to Earth by a Japanese space probe is from the distant asteroid Ryugu, scientists confirmed after opening it on Monday. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-black-sand-like-asteroid-japan-probe.html…