By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on July 7th, 2015 An artist’s rendering of Pluto’s surface, with Charon looming large on the horizon. The double-planet Pluto-Charon system, represent the last unexplored frontier of the Solar System, which will be unveiled in all its glory in just a few days from now. Image Credit: National Space Society
“We are living through a remarkably privileged […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on May 29th, 2015
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft took a series of images of Pluto in 8-12 May from a decreasing distance of 110 million to 75 million km away, which provide fascinating new views of the distant planet’s largely varied surface topography. Compared to images taken one month earlier, Pluto appears to get larger as the […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on December 8th, 2014 NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft was awakened from its electronic hibernation earlier this week, in order to begin final preparations for the start of its historic long-range Pluto encounter operations in January 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Everything has to come to an end eventually—as the saying goes—and that […]
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By Ben Evans, on August 17th, 2014 High-altitude clouds of Neptune, as seen by Voyager 2. Photo Credit: NASA
Twenty-five years ago, this week, humanity braced itself for its last, first-time, close-up glimpse of a new planet in the 20th century. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, launched in August 1977, had already conducted a breathtaking exploration of Jupiter and Saturn—together with […]
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By Ben Evans, on August 16th, 2014 In spite of its immense distance from the Sun, Neptune proved a surprise in terms of the dynamism of its atmosphere. Photo Credit: NASA
Twenty-five years ago, this week, humanity braced itself for its last, first-time, close-up glimpse of a new planet in the 20th century. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, launched in August […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on December 26th, 2013 The 70-meter antenna at Goldstone, Calif., one of the Deep Space Network facilities. The DSN celebrates, this month, its 50th anniversary of history-making operations. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The history of spaceflight is full of missions that have celebrated important milestones in space during Christmas Eve—from Apollo 8’s manned flight into lunar orbit in […]
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By Ben Evans, on November 4th, 2013 Fully encapsulated within its bulbous payload shroud, India’s first mission to Mars awaits its date with destiny. Liftoff is scheduled for 2:38 p.m. IST (4:08 a.m. EST) Tuesday, 5 November. Photo Credit: ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) began a 56.5-hour countdown to the launch of its first mission to Mars on […]
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By Ben Evans, on October 17th, 2013 India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft, also known as “Mangalyaan” (Hindi for “Mars Craft”), is loaded into the Large Space Simulation Chamber for thermovacuum tests. Photo Credit: ISRO
Only days remain before the opening of the next “launch window” to the Red Planet, with NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission scheduled […]
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By Ben Evans, on October 8th, 2013 With NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) providing communications and navigation assistance, India stands ready to stage its first mission to the Red Planet on 28 October. Image Credit: ISRO
Less than three weeks remain until the scheduled 28 October launch of India’s first mission to Mars, and NASA assured the Indian Space Research […]
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