The mission team for NASA’s InSight lander called off its attempts to try to dig deeper into Mars with the heat probe known as “the mole.” Meanwhile, the rest of the mission gained an extension to December 2022. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-calls-halt-to-attempts-by-insight-mole-to-dig-into-mars…
Tag: tether
NASA InSight’s ‘Mole’ is out of sight
NASA’s InSight lander continues working to get its “mole”—a 16-inch-long (40-centimeter-long) pile driver and heat probe—deep below the surface of Mars. A camera on InSight’s arm recently took images of the now partially filled-in “mole hole,” showing only the device’s science tether protruding from the ground. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-nasa-insight-mole-sight.html…
For Space Junk Cleanup, DragRacer Satellite Will Test ‘Terminator Tape’ This Fall
schwit1 quotes Space.com: An experimental mission to test tether-based orbital debris cleanup methods with “Terminator Tape” is slated to launch this fall to test the deorbit performance of two satellites. The Millennium Space Systems mission, called DragRacer, involves two small satellites that are set to launch simultaneously to low Earth orbit (LEO) to measure how fast satellites fall out of space….
In 2020, Venus and Perseid meteors!
In 2020, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower nearly coincides with Venus’ greatest elongation, or greatest apparent distance from the sun in our sky. Both will fall around the mornings of August 11, 12 and 13. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-and-perseid-meteors-in-2020…
Protecting Earth from asteroid impact with a tethered diversion
Our planet exists within the vicinity of thousands of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), some of which—potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs)—carry the risk of impacting Earth and causing major damage to infrastructure and loss of life. Methods to mitigate such a collision are highly desirable. A new paper published in EPJ Special Topics, authored by Flaviane Venditti, Planetary Radar Department, Arecibo Observatory, University of…
Scientists develop inexpensive method to produce E-sail tethers
Thin metallic tethers for Coulomb drag devices that tow satellites and spacecraft can now be produced more easily than before. Scientists of the Finnish Meteorological Institute have developed a method to produce multi-wire tether by twisting hair-thin metal wires. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-03-scientists-inexpensive-method-e-sail-tethers.html…
Venus’ greatest evening elongation on March 24
Today – March 24, 2020 – Venus reaches its greatest elongation from the sun in the evening sky. At northerly latitudes, Venus – the “evening star” – stays out until late night. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-greatest-evening-elongation-on-march-24…
A cubesat deployed a de-orbiting tether and now it’s losing altitude 24 times faster than before
A company called Tethers Unlimited has deployed its de-orbiting tether in a successful test on the Prox-1 satellite. The satellite is one of four that are carrying the device, called the Terminator Tape. Rather than stay in space for years or decades and add to the growing problem of space debris, Prox-1 is using its Terminator Tape to slowly lower its…
One Bitcoin ‘Whale’ May Have Fueled the Currency’s Price Spike in 2017
A single Bitcoin holder — called a “whale” in cryptocurrency parlance — likely manipulated the market and helped fuel the big rise in Bitcoin’s price in 2017, according to researchers. That year, Bitcoin’s price jumped from under $1,000 in January to more than $19,000 in December. From a report: Last year, University of Texas professor John Griffin and Amin Shams, an…
Alphabet’s ‘Wing’ Finally Launches America’s First Drone Delivery Service, Beating Amazon
An anonymous reader quotes Newsweek: Wing, an offshoot of Google parent company Alphabet, officially launched its drone delivery service Friday, delivering a FedEx package — a birthday gift for Susie Sensmeier from her husband, Paul — through the air from a distribution center to the couple’s home in Christiansburg, Virginia, according to the company’s blog. the first company to receive Federal…