For northerly latitudes, the coming week presents a golden opportunity to spot the most elusive bright planet – Mercury – in the east before sunup. The waning crescent moon, and dazzling Venus, can help you find it. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-beneath-venus-before-dawn…
Tag: tethered
Image: Sloshing in space
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst during his 2018 stay on the International Space Station, with two floating SPHERES robots tethered to a container of liquid, serving to simulate the experience of pulling a derelict satellite out of orbit. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-image-sloshing-space.html…
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…
It’s Official: SpaceX Is a ‘Go’ To Launch NASA Astronauts On Crew Dragon Spaceship
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Space.com: No showstoppers were found during a crucial flight readiness review (FRR) for SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission, keeping the company’s first-ever crewed flight on track for a May 27 liftoff, NASA officials announced today (May 22). “The Flight Readiness Review has concluded, and NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission is cleared to proceed toward liftoff on the…