Weekly Links
Down to Earth
Elon Musk was busy this week entertaining his fans with tidbits about future SpaceX plans, including the tweet below, as well as this picture on Instagram of a tool for their next larger rocket, the BFR.
And then land on a bouncy house
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2018
NASA’s Planetary Science Division Director, Jim Greene, is now the agency’s new chief scientist.
Check out this music video by Snow Patrol which uses imagery from the ISS and was partially filmed at ESA.
In Orbit
There were three orbital rocket launches since my last post:
- April 10 – A Chinese Long March 4C rocket carrying three reconnaissance satellites.
- April 11 – An Indian PSLV rocket carrying a navigation satellite.
- April 14 – A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a U.S. Air Force satellite.
On Monday, April 16th, A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope.
Around the Solar System
The International Astronautical Union (IAU) has approved official names for features on Pluto’s moon Charon, some named after iconic sci-fi figures such as Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke.
Because images of Saturn are just so damn stunning, here’s Saturn’s moon Dione as imaged by the late Cassini spacecraft.
Moon Dione and Saturn’s rings edge-on