At the end of 2018, the American interplanetary station OSRIS-REx entered orbit near Bennu, a small near-Earth B-class asteroid less than 600 meters in diameter. The main task of the spacecraft was to take a soil sample from the surface of Bennu for subsequent sending it back to Earth. However, even during the approach to […]
In the spring of 2019, the Israeli nonprofit organization SpaceIL launched the Beresheet lunar landing automatic station. The general contractor responsible for developing the spacecraft was Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel’s main manufacturer of civilian and military aerospace products. The development of the lunar mission cost $100 million and was financed by donations of businessmen […]
Asteroid (469219) Camoaleva is a quasi-satellite of the Earth. So called space objects that are in orbit around the Sun, but remain relatively close to Earth due to the fact that their orbital period is close to the Earth. Quasi-satellites are often difficult to observe with telescopes because they remain reflecting little sunlight toward Earth. […]
The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) space mission, initiated by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordinating Office, was launched on Nov. 24, 2021. On Oct. 2, 2022, the DART spacecraft will seal itself into the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Dimorph, thereby changing its orbit. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will be used to launch the DART spacecraft. […]
December 17, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans, presented the results of studies of the Jupiter system, made by the spacecraft Juno (“Juno”). Scientists spoke about the study of the magnetic field of Jupiter and Ganymede, the dynamics of the planet’s atmosphere, and showed a picture of the thin dust […]
One of NASA’s most ambitious research missions over the next 10 years will be the delivery of soil samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. In total, this task will take about 15 years and will require three spacecraft. Preparation for the delivery of Martian soil to Earth began back in 2020, along with […]