Archive for the ‘MRO’ Category
Weekly Links
Down to Earth
NASA successfully completed its latest underwater NEEMO mission off the coast of Florida. A crew of astronauts and engineers spent several days in an underwater base testing techniques, gear, and technology for spaceflight. This was the 22nd expedition to the underwater facility.
The Canadian Space Agency announced the selection of their two latest Astronaut Candidates. Jennifer Sidley is a 28-year-old PhD and professor at the University of Cambridge. Joshua Kutryk is a 35-year-old fighter pilot and test pilot with several master’s degrees.
The President of the United States signed an executive order establishing a National Space Council, to guide all of the nation’s endeavours related to spaceflight.
In Orbit
There were five rocket launches since my last post:
- June 18 – China launched a Long March 3B rocket, but placed the communications satellite payload in the wrong orbit.
- June 23 – India launched a PSLV rocket carrying a slew of small satellites.
- June 23 – Russia launched a secret payload on a Soyuz rocket variant.
- June 23 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Bulgariasat-1, from their Florida launch site.
- June 25 – SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Iridium satellites, from their Florida launch site.
- June 28 – ESA launched an Ariane 5 rocket carrying payloads for commercial customers.
Yes, SpaceX had a 48 hour turnaround between two launches, to reach 9 launches on the year. Both first stages were recovered.
In a non-orbital launch, NASA launched an experiment sounding rocket from Virginia’s Wallops Island.
A large satellite in geostationary orbit appears to have broken apart, causing concerns about orbital debris in one of the most important Earth orbits.
Around the Solar System
A recent survey of outer solar system bodies, which found several new distant objects, casts doubt on the hypothesized existence of “Planet 9″. However, the lead researchers of the Planet 9 theory have done their own analysis of the new data, and claim that the data can fit the model. The hunt for Planet 9 continues.
The Curiosity rover is still climbing up Mount Sharp in the center of Gale Crater on Mars. Recently, the MRO spacecraft captured this image of the rover from orbit.