Planetary Science – Page 12

One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly

24 August 2016 Stephen Clark

Five years after winning $1 billion from NASA to mount the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, scientists and engineers will get their last look at the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft this week as it is closed up inside the nose cone of an Atlas 5 rocket for launch in September.

ExoMars orbiter fine-tunes path toward red planet

29 July 2016 Stephen Clark

A European spacecraft cruising toward Mars fired its main engine, tweaking its trajectory and helping set up for carefully-choreographed simultaneous maneuvers to place part of the tandem mission into orbit around the red planet and deposit a stationary battery-powered lander on the Martian surface.

See Jupiter’s Galilean moons in motion from Juno’s camera

6 July 2016 Stephen Clark

Juno’s visible camera had a bird’s-eye view of Jupiter’s four largest moons over the last few weeks, recording the satellites in their orbital ballet around the giant planet as the spacecraft approached from above Jupiter’s north pole.

Scientists on edge awaiting Juno’s perilous encounter with Jupiter

4 July 2016 Stephen Clark

Speeding toward Jupiter at nearly 40 miles per second, NASA’s Juno spacecraft must brave a field of computer-zapping radiation and Jupiter’s tenuous ring of ice and dust particles when it brakes into orbit around the planet Monday and zooms just 2,900 miles from the world’s turbulent cloud tops.

One last glimpse of Jupiter before Juno’s arrival

4 July 2016 Astronomy Now

This is the final view taken by the JunoCam instrument on NASA’s Juno spacecraft before Juno’s instruments were powered down in preparation for orbit insertion.

Live coverage: NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrives at Jupiter

4 July 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft is barreling toward a rendezvous with Jupiter after a 2.8 billion kilometre (1.7-billion-mile), five-year trip from planet Earth. The research probe’s main engine will ignite for 35 minutes to maneuver Juno into orbit, and engineers expect to receive confirmation of burn’s start at 0318 GMT Tuesday.

NASA’s Juno mission is about to peel back the layers on Jupiter

4 July 2016 Stephen Clark

Whether you’re a casual stargazer or armed with a toolkit of observing gadgets, chances are you have caught a glimpse of Jupiter this year beckoning as one of the brightest objects in the night sky. It’s about to get its first visitor in nearly a decade, when NASA’s Juno spacecraft rockets into orbit.

Juno’s British-built engine ready for all-important firing at Jupiter

3 July 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers have pressurised the Juno spacecraft’s propulsion system in preparation for a 5 July rocket firing by the probe’s UK-made rocket engine that will steer the spinning, solar-powered robot into orbit around Jupiter.

Jupiter and its satellites seen by ‘people’s camera’ on Juno probe

26 June 2016 Stephen Clark

The visible camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft is capturing a time-lapse movie of Jupiter and its four largest moons as the orbiter dives toward the giant planet for a 4 July rendezvous, and officials have released a first taste of the views armchair scientists and space enthusiasts can anticipate over the coming weeks and months.

Departure of Europe’s first Mars rover delayed to 2020

4 May 2016 Stephen Clark

Europe’s ExoMars rover will not be ready for launch in 2018, officials said Monday, forcing a two-year delay for the ambitious mission to drill into the Martian surface and search for the remnants of past life.