Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The European Extremely Large Telescope primary mirror.
Source: ELT Facebook page.
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China and Europe Both Have Plans To Prevent Deadly Asteroid Apophis from Hitting Earth in 2029 (or 2036)
Apophis is a 46 million tonne asteroid that will pass within a hair’s breath of Earth in 2029. However, Apophis’s trajectory is likely to take it through a region of space near Earth known as a keyhole that will ensure the asteroid returns in 2036.
Nobody knows how close Apophis will come on that pass. But if there’s a chance of a collision, we’ll have only 7 years to work out how to avoid catastrophe.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing say their preference is to use a solar sail to place a small spacecraft into a retrograde orbit and on collision course with Apophis. The retrograde orbit will give it an impact velocity of 90km/s which, if they do this well enough in advance, should lead to a collision large enough to do the trick.In 2002, the European Space Agency began a program called Don Quijote to find out how best to perform such a deflection.
Don Quijote involves sending two spacecraft to a near Earth asteroid; one to smash into it and the other to watch while in orbit above the impact crater. The goal is to change the asteroid’s semimajor axis by more than 100 metres and to measure the change with an accuracy greater than 1 per cent.
European Space Agency Plans to Team Up with Russia for the First Manned Mission to Mars
If it’s a space race the Russians want, a space race they shall have. But et tu, Europe? Russian news outlet Ria Novosti is reporting that the European Space Agency (ESA), long the ally of Cold War champion NASA, is teaming with Russia on a joint manned mission to Mars, and that their crew will be the first to set foot on the Red Planet.
New Zealand in the background, astronaut Robert L. Curbeam Jr. (left) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang, both STS-116 mission specialists, participate in the mission’s first of three planned sessions of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction continues on the International Space Station on December 12, 2006.
Source: NASA
Rosetta comet probe enters hibernation in deep space
The final command placing ESA’s Rosetta comet-chaser into deep-space hibernation has been sent. With virtually all systems shut down, the probe will now coast for 31 months until waking up in 2014 for arrival at its comet destination.
This dramatic event marks the end of the hugely successful first phase of Rosetta’s ten-year cruise and the start of a long, dark hibernation during which all instruments and almost all control systems will be silent.
Earth’s gravity revealed in unprecedented detail
After just two years in orbit, ESA’s GOCE satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the ‘geoid’ ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth works.
The new geoid was unveiled today at the Fourth International GOCE User Workshop hosted at the Technische Universität München in Munich, Germany. Media representatives and scientists from around the world have been treated to the best view yet of global gravity.
The geoid is the surface of an ideal global ocean in the absence of tides and currents, shaped only by gravity. It is a crucial reference for measuring ocean circulation, sea-level change and ice dynamics – all affected by climate change.
New Zealand lends a hand in rocket launch
The countdown is on for the European Space Agency’s next rocket launch and New Zealand is playing its part in the international space programme.
Top scientists from the European Space Agency are in New Zealand to monitor tracking of the Johannes Kepler unmanned spacecraft from Awarua Station, near Invercargill, when it launches tomorrow.
The new spacecraft, known as an automated transfer vehicle, will carry essential supplies to the International Space Station and will launch from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in South America.
200th Ariane mission stands ready to launch ATV-2 to Space Station
Representing the third of five back-to-back launches to the International Space Station in a 2-month period, the European Space Agency stands ready to the launch the ATV-2 (Automated Transfer Vehicle 2) spacecraft on a multi-month mission to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies to the leading orbital outpost. The mission will also hold the distinction of being flown to orbit on the 200th Ariane rocket launch, the 56th launch for the workhorse Ariane 5 variant.
Targeting launch at 2208 GMT (1708 EST), the ATV-2, named after famous German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, will be launched on the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) veteran workhorse Ariane 5 rocket.
Wind and Water Have Shaped Schiaparelli Impact Basin on Mars
The small crater embedded in the northwestern rim of the Schiaparelli impact basin features prominently in this new image from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express. All around is evidence for past water and the great martian winds that periodically blow.
EU-Backed ‘Electric Sail’ Could Be the Fastest Man-Made Device Ever Built
The EU is funding a three-year project at the Finnish Meteorological Institute to build the fastest man-made device in the universe: an electric sail, or ESAIL, that researchers say could make Pluto in just five years’ time.
(…) The ESAIL is propelled by solar radiation and therefore requires no chemical or ion propellant. But rather than actually unfurling a huge membranous sail to catch photons from the sun to provide thrust, the ESAIL repels protons.
A flawless launch has delivered Hylas-1, ESA’s first public–private partnership in a full satellite system, into space. The satellite was released on November 26 into its transfer orbit after a textbook launch by an Ariane 5 vehicle from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The Hylas-1 communication satellite will demonstrate advanced high-speed technologies and provide innovative broadband services across Europe.
Source: European Space Agency.
Astronaut Randolph Bresnik seen during Atlantis EVA-2 on 21 November 2009 with the unfurled AIS antenna, attached to Columbus module.
The European Columbus laboratory is a research facility which is permanently attached to the International Space Station and provides internal payload accommodation for experiments in the field of multidisciplinary research into material science, fluid physics and life science. In addition, an external payload facility hosts experiments and applications in the field of space science, Earth observation and technology.
An external antenna is connected to the Columbus picking up Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from ship transponders at sea, monitoring ocean traffic.
Read more about Columbus here.
Click image for high-resolution.
NGC 3603
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. O’Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
(via NASA on Facebook)
Planck unveils the Universe - UK Space Agency
“The Planck space satellite – ESA’s mission to study the early Universe - has delivered its first image of the entire sky. By looking at microwave radiation, it not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form, but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang.
This single image captures both our own cosmic backyard – the Milky Way galaxy that we live in – but also the subtle imprint of the Big Bang from which the whole Universe emerged.
The dust throughout the Galaxy is shown in blue, while hot gas can be seen as red regions across the centre of the image. In the background, the mottled yellow features are relic radiation, called the Cosmic Microwave Background, which contains information about the earliest stages of the Universe.”
