Earlier this year, astronomers discovered an oddball asteroid inside the orbit of Venus—the first member of a predicted flock near the Sun. No bigger than a small mountain, the asteroid has now gained another distinction: It appears to be rich in the mineral olivine, which makes up much of Earth's deep rock. Some astronomers think that is a clue to a larger set of asteroids, never properly accounted for, that was forged early in the formation of the Solar System.
"It's improbable that we look at this new population and an olivine-dominated object is the first type we see," says Francesca DeMeo, an asteroid hunter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not part of the discovery team. "That's what makes this a cool result."
Many things are taking place:
Astronauts complete 2nd spacewalk to replace batteries outside orbiting space station | CBC News
Astronauts completed their second spacewalk in under a week on Wednesday to replace old batteries outside the International Space Station.
Cmdr. Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken quickly tackled the big, boxy batteries. For every two outdated batteries coming out, a new and improved one goes in to supply power to the orbiting station on the night side of Earth.
With their main chore completed, Cassidy and Behnken jumped ahead to loosen the bolts on the batch of old batteries coming out next time and remove other equipment. Some of the bolts required extra muscle, and another stubborn mechanism just wouldn't come off.
Quantum Entanglement Demonstrated Aboard Orbiting CubeSat | Research & Technology | Jul 2020 |
Naked core of gas giant found orbiting star like Earth's | wusa9.com
Astronomers say they have spotted, for the first time, what appears to be the exposed core of a gas giant planet that has shed -- or never found -- its gaseous atmosphere.
A team lead by the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom says the core, named TOI 849 b , is located 730 light-years away, orbiting a star much like Earth's. One year lasts 18 Earth hours due to the proximity to its star.
The core is about the size of Neptune. It is located in a region called the Neptunian Desert, meaning an area close to stars where astronomers rarely see planets of Neptune's mass or larger.
Quite a lot has been going on:
Orbital Transports Announces "Get Spaceborne" Service for In-Orbit Demonstration and
"Our turnkey service for in-orbit demonstration is a fast and cost-effective way for smallsat manufacturers to acquire flight heritage for their products including communications, imaging, data processing, propulsion, power, and other components," said David Hurst, CEO of Orbital Transports. "We handle all the logistics of planning your mission, integrating your smallsat component with the satellite bus, operating the mission, and getting your flight qualification data back to you."
BHUTAN-1 orbiting the Earth for two years – KuenselOnline
At about 330 kilometres above the earth's surface, Bhutan's first satellite BHUTAN-1 is orbiting the earth. Last Friday, on June 29, it was the second anniversary of launching the satellite to the International Space Station (ISS), located at about 400 km altitude above the earth's surface.
From the ISS, BHUTAN-1 was released into earth's orbit on August 10, 2018. The satellite is placed at around longitude of 51.5 degrees with respect to equator in earth's orbit. BHUTAN-1 orbits the earth 15 to16 times a day and passes around the country four to five times a day.
Final Beidou-3 satellite reaches operational orbit, China's launch sites gear up for July
HELSINKI — China's final Beidou-3 satellite has reached its intended geostationary orbit and passed systems checks, a week after launch from Xichang.
The satellite's frequency synthesizers, atomic clock, navigation processors and inter-satellite payloads and other systems are working normally, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation stated in a June 30 release .
The Beidou-3 GEO-3 satellite reached an altitude of around 35,786 kilometers above the Earth following five orbital maneuvers. It will orbit fixed over 110.5 degrees East.
SpaceX sends third GPS III satellite into orbit for Space Force
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the third in a series of next-generation GPS III satellites into orbit today, marking another step forward for America's satellite-based navigation system and the Space Force that manages it.
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Happening on Twitter
Happy #AsteroidDay! Flash🔙 to the Sept. 2016 launch of NASA's first asteroid sampling spacecraft, @OSIRISREx on ULA… https://t.co/1vfRvGKKIU ulalaunch (from Denver, CO) Tue Jun 30 15:39:23 +0000 2020
In 2022, our DART mission will test a new asteroid deflection technology. The target — a small moonlet posing no th… https://t.co/p2pApzuKP3 NASA Tue Jun 23 17:06:01 +0000 2020
Earlier this year, an oddball asteroid was discovered inside the orbit of Venus—the first member of a predicted flo… https://t.co/rAmVciN1qa NewsfromScience (from Washington, D.C.) Wed Jul 01 20:30:16 +0000 2020
The moon of a binary asteroid system - and the final destination of DART, @NASA's first #planetarydefense mission -… https://t.co/JaZNmfdGUY JHUAPL (from Laurel, Maryland) Tue Jun 23 20:47:02 +0000 2020
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