NASA | Common News Update

Feb132019 by adminNo Comments

Nasa calls time on silent Opportunity Mars rover

The US space agency (Nasa) has called time on its Opportunity Mars rover.The six-wheeled robot last contacted Earth in June last year, just before it was enveloped in the darkness of a global dust storm. Engineers hoped Oppy would power back up when the skies cleared and sunlight hit its solar panels again - but there has not been a peep out of the rover.The routine prompt commands that have been sent to Opportunity will now end. The mission has been declared over."We tried valiantly over these last eight months to recover the rover, to get some signal from it," explained project manager John Callas. "We've listened every single day with sensitive receivers, and we sent over 1,000 recovery comma...

Feb102019 by adminNo Comments

'This time we'll stay': NASA to send humans to the moon

Technology

By Ajay Nair, news reporter NASA is planning to take the "next giant leap in deep space exploration" as it looks to send astronauts to the moon who are able to stay there.The space agency's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, called for American firms to help develop human lunar landers - "reusable systems for astronauts to land on the moon" - as he said scientists had been given a mandate by President Donald Trump and Congress to return to the moon for the first time since 1972. He said NASA was planning to send astronauts "to the moon and eventually to Mars and beyond" and that it was "an exciting time to be leading America's space programme"."As a lifelong NASA supporter, I am thrilled to be talking once again about landing humans on the moon," he said, wr...

Jan22019 by adminNo Comments

NASA spacecraft survives flyby of the most distant object ever visited

Technology

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft pulled off the most distant exploration of another world Tuesday, skimming past a tiny, icy object 4 billion miles from Earth that looks to be shaped like a bowling pin. Flight controllers in Maryland declared success 10 hours after the high-risk, middle-of-the-night encounter at the mysterious body known as Ultima Thule on the frozen fringes of our solar system, an astounding 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto. "I don't know about all of you, but I'm really liking this 2019 thing so far," lead scientist Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said to applause. "I'm here to tell you that last night, overnight, the United States spacecraft New Horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind, and did so spectacula...

Jan12019 by adminNo Comments

NASA spacecraft 'phones home' after historic journey

Technology

An unmanned NASA spacecraft has sent a signal back to Earth after making a successful fly-by past the most distant world ever studied by mankind. Around 10 hours after reaching the icy world of Ultima Thule, which lies one billion miles beyond Pluto, in the early part of New Year's Day, the New Horizons vessel got in touch with scientists back home.The "phone home" signal took far longer to reach its destination than your average WhatsApp message because of just how far it had to travel, with Ultima Thule lying four billion miles from Earth.It is roughly 20 miles long and shaped like a giant peanut. Image: NASA published this image showing off the shape of Ultima Thule Image: An artist's impression ...

Jan12019 by adminNo Comments

New Horizons: Nasa probe survives flyby of Ultima Thule

Science

The US space agency's New Horizons probe has made contact with Earth to confirm its successful flyby of the icy world known as Ultima Thule. The encounter occurred some 6.5bn km (4bn miles) away, making it the most distant ever exploration of an object in our Solar System. New Horizons acquired gigabytes of photos and other observations during the pass. It will now send these home over the coming months. The radio message from the robotic craft was picked up by one of Nasa's big antennas, in Madrid, Spain.It had taken fully six hours and eight minutes to traverse the great expanse of space between Ultima and Earth. Controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Phys...