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space missions

The cylindrical object that survived the burning in the atmosphere of a battery pad discarded in 2011 from the International Space Station hit a home in Florida three years later. Photo: NASA

Space Debris Hits Florida House * Wake Up Call  

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Although the chance of space debris directly hitting humans or property on Earth is relatively low, the risk is increasing as more and more objects are thrown into orbit around the Earth. Scientists and space explorers are calling for coordinated international action to address the problem and prevent catastrophic scenarios in the future
EXPAND accelerator. Credit: Creation Space

A new accelerator will qualify Israeli startups to integrate into NASA's Artemis moon return program

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The Israeli company Creation-Space is launching the accelerator 'EXPAND' which will give start-ups an opportunity to develop breakthrough technologies in the field of space exploration and the settlement of the Moon and Mars • The winning start-up will receive a scientific-technological grant in the amount of 100 thousand NIS • Dr. Rui Naor, The founder of the company: "Israeli entrepreneurs can take a significant part in the next great step of humanity"
After reaching the Gediz Vallis basin, Curiosity captured this panoramic image using one of its black-and-white navigation cameras on February 3. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars rover Curiosity reveals its ancient water secrets

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Curiosity has begun exploring a new region that could provide more information about when liquid water finally disappeared from the surface of the Red Planet.
Photograph of the landing site from the moon lander Odysseus. PR photo, from the Intuitive Machines website

The moon lander Odysseus will stop operating the day after tomorrow (Tuesday 5/3/2024) when darkness falls on its landing area on the side

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Odysseus landed on its side instead of landing at a vertical angle, which disrupted communication with Earth. Some of the antennas were blocked by the inverted spacecraft, and those that remained exposed were too close to the ground, leading to patchy communications.
Odysseus the moon lander. Illustration: Intuitive Machines

For the first time a private spacecraft lands on the moon

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A historic achievement for the United States, which returns to land on the moon for the first time since 1972, and the company Intuitive Machines, which seeks to prove its capabilities and serve as a supplier of equipment transfer to the moon as part of the Artemis program
Illustration of the crater created during the collision between the DART spacecraft and the Dimorphos asteroid. In the background: the European HERA spacecraft and its nanosatellites (CubeSats) in follow-up research. Credit: ESA Science Office

repel the asteroid

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Technion researchers are partners in the HERA space mission: first attempt in history to divert an asteroid from its orbit
The actress Ariana de Bos in the movie ISS (from the promo released by the Bleecker Street company)

The International Space Station: how NASA plans to destroy it - and the dangers involved in the film and in reality

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On 19/1/2024, a film titled ISS was released in the US, which describes an international incident that takes place on the space station following a war between blocs. In reality, the astronauts and cosmonauts work together despite the conflict between Russia and the West, but the end of the station is already in sight
This is what the Peregrine spacecraft looked like during its exit from the upper stage of the launcher. Photo: Astrobotic

Hot end for Peregrine lander: Burn up in atmosphere on Thursday, 19/1/24

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The spacecraft failed to reach lunar orbit due to a fuel leak that was discovered immediately upon its ejection from the upper stage of the launcher. Now NASA is helping Astrobotics investigate the malfunction
Artemis II crew members (from left) CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Weisman, exit the astronaut crew quarters in the Neil Armstrong Building to the Artemis crew transport facilities, before traveling to Launch Pad 39B As part of the Integrated Ground Systems Experiment at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Wednesday, September 20, to test the crew's schedule on launch day. Now they will have to wait another year for the actual flight. NASA photo

The moon will have to wait another year

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NASA postpones the Artemis 2 and 3 missions by a year to 2025 and 2026 respectively. The reason: repeated failures. One of them occurred this week - the fuel leak from the lunar lander intended for Peregrine
Curiosity's rear Hazcam recorded the shadow of the rover's rear in a 12-hour view toward the Gale Basin floor. Several factors caused several artifacts in the image, including a black spot, the sun's distorted appearance, and rows of white pixels extending from the sun. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Viewing a full day on Mars, sunrise to sunset

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Curiosity's rear Hazcam recorded the shadow of the rover's rear in a 12-hour continuous view from sunrise to sunset toward the Gale Basin floor
Figure prepared using artificial intelligence software Dali 3. Crowded on the moon.

Space: The year 2024 will be busy, especially on the moon

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The new year is expected to be full of exciting space missions, from rocket launches and landings to the moon, manned flights around the moon, a new spacecraft to explore Jupiter and a demonstration flight of a new supply spacecraft to the International Space Station
The Yabusa 2 spacecraft near asteroid Ryugu, courtesy of JAXA

Surprising discoveries about the carbon richness of asteroid Ryugu and the composition of matter in the early solar system

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Japanese researchers who examined the soft materials that returned to Earth from the asteroid Ryugo in the Yabusa 2 spacecraft now estimate that the protoplanetary bodies from which the planets and asteroids were formed were richer in carbon than previously thought, and that until now the examination of meteorites that fell on Earth was interpreted as earthly pollution
Analysis of Martian seismic data recorded by the InSight mission revealed that the liquid iron core of Mars is surrounded by a layer of molten silicate 150 km thick, resulting in a smaller and denser core than previously suggested. (Graphic: Thibaut Roger, NCCR Planet S / ETH Zurich)

News from inside Mars

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The first seismological measurements of the Insight were made near the landing of the spacecraft in September 2021. Among the seismic records were also two tremors on the other side of Mars that originated from a meteorite hitting its ground
Megan MacArthur, NASA's Mission 65 pilot to the International Space Station, works in the Zero Gravity Science Glove Box and exchanges samples for an experiment called Barrier Sealed Ampoule Coagulation, or SUBSA. The physics experiment investigates experimental methods for coagulating solutions in zero gravity and is expected to lead to reduced fluid movement in the solution, Which will allow for a better distribution of the components and the potential to improve the technology used to produce semiconductor crystals. Photo: NASA

NASA will increase chip manufacturing experiments in space

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The space agency says that the industry alone will not be able to move forward and it is required to cooperate with the government and academia. This can help solve bottlenecks that slow down progress in the field
Artist illustration of asteroid 16 Psyche. Credit: Maxar/ASU/P.Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Psyche spacecraft helps scientists understand what asteroids are made of and prepares the ground for commercial reactors

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The composition of asteroid Psyche can tell scientists more about Earth's core because the two objects may have a similar structure. Both probably contain platinum, nickel, iron and possibly even gold - materials of commercial interest
Illustration showing the Psyche spacecraft as it flies towards the Psyche asteroid. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

NASA's Psyche spacecraft has begun its journey to the asteroid Psyche

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On the way there, the spacecraft will receive a gravitational push from Mars. It is expected to reach the orbit around the asteroid in the first stage in June 2029
NASA's Parker Solar Probe recently passed through one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded. Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Brian Monroe

Parker floated through a strong coronal mass ejection that "sucked" interplanetary dust

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"These interactions between the Sun's coronal mass ejections and interplanetary dust were theorized twenty years ago, but were not observed until the Parker Solar Probe saw that the coronal ejection acts like a vacuum cleaner, removing the dust from its orbit."
The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after it landed in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense Test and Training Range in Utah. (Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule containing soil samples from an asteroid has landed safely in Utah and been transferred to a clean room

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The Osiris-Rex probe returns to Earth small samples of the asteroid Beno, a "real small world" for analysis
Training replica of the sample lander from asteroid Benno, which will land on September 24, 2024 in Utah. Photo: NASA

The Osiris Rex spacecraft that took samples from an asteroid in 2020 is expected to land them in a capsule

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Elon Musk intervenes in the war in Ukraine. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Elon Musk disrupted a Ukrainian autonomous submarine attack on the Russian navy; It was feared that it would lead to a nuclear war

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Musk found himself trying to please both Ukraine and Russia while trying to prevent escalation. His refusal to provide satellite coverage of a Ukrainian attack on Crimea exposed his dilemma. But Starlink's importance in the war did not diminish
The Indian lander Vircam as photographed from the Paragain robotic vehicle. Photo by the Indian Space Agency ISRO

Surprising presence of sulfur in the soil of the South Pole of the Moon by the Indian robotic vehicle Paragain in the Chandrayaan-3 mission

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The vehicle discovered a wide variety of heavy elements, but this is the first evidence of the presence of sulfur * The rover will tour the south pole of the moon for two weeks and look for signs of water ice
Model of the Luna 25 spacecraft. From Wikipedia

The Russian spacecraft Luna 25 crashed on the moon a day before the planned landing

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The spacecraft, designed to test whether the moon could support a permanent base for humans, crashed after entering an unexpected orbit, the Russian space corporation Roscosmos reported
This artist's impression shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space. The two Voyager spacecraft are moving farther and farther from Earth on their journey into interstellar space, eventually orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit : NASA/JPL-Caltech

Voyager 2 has lost contact with Earth. Only one radio dish in the world can help her "call home"

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A human error in the commands sent to her caused her antenna to tilt at an angle of two degrees from the Earth. The radio antenna engineers of the deep space network in Australia will try to contact her
The 2017 eclipse as photographed by the Chasing the Eclipse I project. Credit: SwRI/NASA/Daniel B. Seaton

NASA's science in the shadows: five fascinating experiments for the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024

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Using the high-altitude research plane WB-57, in one of the projects they will photograph the eclipse from a height of 15 km from the ground. The team hopes that taking the pictures above most of the atmosphere of the country will make it possible to see new details of structures in the middle and lower corona
This artist's impression shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space. The two Voyager spacecraft are moving farther and farther from Earth on their journey into interstellar space, eventually orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit : NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA engineers are making changes to the way the Voyager 2 spacecraft operates to extend the life of scientific instruments

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NASA has decided to keep Voyager 2's scientific instruments on for a few more years, allowing for more discoveries from interstellar space.
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