Category Archives: Space Science

In Space Infrastructure, Space Science

Chelyabinsk event details + Euro/US asteroid intercept project

More details of the meteor fireball event over Chelyabinsk and the object that created it have been found in the subsequent studies:

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If we are to ever deflect an asteroid on a collision course with earth, it would be good if there had been at least some basci tests of some techniques such as simply hitting an asteroid with an object and seeing if it as the effecst expected. Ed Wright talks about a ESA/Johns Hopkins project to do just such a test: ESA, Johns Hopkins Plan First Asteroid Intercept Mission – CitizensInSpace.com

More about the project here: Asteroid impact mission targets Didymos – ESA

AIDA is a low-budget international effort that would send two small craft to intercept a double target. While one probe smashes into the smaller asteroid at around 6.25 km/s, the other records what happens.

One effect would be a change in the orbital ballet of the two objects. AIDA is not intended to show how we could deflect an asteroid that threatens Earth but it would be a first step.

 

 

Space Collecting, Space Science

Big meteorite found in Antarctica

An 18 kilogram meteorite is found in Antarctica: Antarctica Team Finds Largest Chondrite Meteorite in Past 25 Years – Daily Galaxy

Space Science

Curiosity computer suffers memory glitch

The Curiosity team deals with first major anomaly with the rover: Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover – NASA JPL

Space Science, Space Systems, The Moon

FISO: Orion/MoonRise – human/robot combo lunar pole sample return mission

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, Orion/MoonRise: a Joint Human/Robotic Sample Return Mission from the Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin by Leon Alkalai, NASA JPL, on Feb.27.13.

See also the paper Orion/MoonRise: A Proposed Human & Robotic Sample Return Mission from the Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin (pdf) by L. Alkalai et al.

Activism, Living in Space, Space Science

The Space Show: Curiosity update, California Space Day, and Living in deep space

Dr. Samuel Kounaves joined David Livingston on the John Batchelor Show’s Hotel Mars segment to talke about the Curiosity rover’s drilling activities, Mars soil samples, and the search for organics molecules: The John Batchelor Show Hotel Mars, Wednesday, 2-27-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

Also, on the Space Show this week,  Duane Hyland and John Rose discussed the AIAA California Space Day and the California aerospace industry: AIAA California Space Day, Monday, 2-25-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

And Dr. George Robinson talked about “Human species survival via space habitation” beyond low earth orbit: Dr. George Robinson, Tuesday, 2-26-13 -Thespaceshow’s Blog