ISRO Sources confirms me that "Lander found 500m away from the actual landing spot. Seen from OHRC (Optical High Resolution Camera) image and it is intact. Trying to send commands from Bangalore control center."
@ABPNews
This ongoing fascination with "spaceflight OR save the world" continues to irk me. Blue Origin et al are business at the end of the day.
Why not call for all Hollywood movie production to cease? Football to be scrapped? Royal yachts to be sold?
So, a small helicopter NASA is about to fly on Mars might do something pretty awesome.
The blades of the helicopter might electrically charge the Martian dust, causing it to...
Glow in the dark!
Words by me
@NewScientist
and short thread
(1/x)
JWST may have already broken the record for the earliest known galaxy in the universe.
Announced today, it's called GLASS-z13, and dates back just 300m years after the Big Bang.
Next up? Seeing the first galaxies to switch on.
Words by me
@NewScientist
Watch: “I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify; who doesn’t see red states or blue states, only sees the United States.” Joe Biden delivers a speech to the nation for the first time as President-elect
I think it's happened, people. Voyager 2 appears to have left the Solar System, becoming the second interstellar spacecraft after Voyager 1 in August 2012. Expecting some sort of announcement from NASA tomorrow.
This is the incredible launch system NASA is currently developing to return from Mars.
It's called VECTOR, and will very literally throw the rocket into the Martian sky, which will ignite in mid-air and launch to space.
Wild? Yes! Read more by me
@SciAm
So, I've just had it confirmed from another ESA source that
#SpaceX
refused to move their
#Starlink
satellite when they were alerted to the risk of collision with
#Aeolus
, which was 1 in 1,000, ten times higher than the threshold for a collision avoidance manoeuvre. (1/5)
Brexit Series Finale
- MPs vote against no deal
- EU refuses to extend Article 50 deadline
- Theresa May announces vote to revoke Article 50
- MPs vote in favour
- Article 50 revoked
- Brexit cancelled
- Life goes back to normal
The End
SCOOP
In a complete coincidence, a European and Japanese spacecraft is about to fly past Venus in a matter of weeks.
And, excitingly, the team is going to try and confirm the presence of phosphine, a possible indicator of life.
Words, by me,
@Forbes
Too close for comfort. 😳
At ~06:30 UTC today we observed a conjunction at 608 km between two non-maneuverable spacecraft: a derelict Russian satellite and an operational NASA satellite.
Miss distance = <20 meters
Probability of collision = 3 to 8% at TCA
To put it another way, these two objects moving at 4 miles a second just missed each other by the length of a tennis court.
They would have increased the total amount of debris in space by half if they had collided.
So, a story I've been working on...
The FCC may have wrongly ignored US environmental law in approving SpaceX's Starlink mega constellation (and other satellites). Were it to be sued, it would likely lose.
Story below
@SciAm
, and thread to follow (1/)
Astronomers have found a giant object up to 370km across flying into our solar system.
It could be a minor planet or 'mega comet', and will reach the orbit of Saturn in 2031 – close enough to send a mission to study it.
Words by me
@NewScientist
The first gravitational waves were discovered four years ago this Saturday. Time flies!
Now, dozens of discoveries later, astronomers are starting to reap the rewards of what they can teach us.
My latest story, for
@SciAm
My regular daydream is that I become a billionaire and fund my own high-risk $500m space mission to an icy moon of the outer solar system to look for life.
Here's a remarkable animation of
#gb00234
, which may be our second known interstellar visitor, taken by astronomer Gennady Borisov - who discovered the object.
2l/Borisov, perhaps?
(source: )
So much misinformation being shared about the
#VikramLander
at the moment. For one, this image being shared is not a picture of the lander. It is the Apollo 15 lunar landing site.
Wow. This is footage from
@UniOfSurrey
showing their
#RemoveDEBRIS
satellite firing a harpoon at a target in Earth orbit. This technology could be used to remove space junk from orbit in future. Incredible.
IAU issues a statement on the BlueWalker 3 satellite, now confirmed as one of the brightest objects in the night sky.
“BlueWalker 3 is a big shift in the constellation satellite issue and should give us all reason to pause”
Reminder, tomorrow NASA is going to grab up to two kilograms of rocks from the surface of an asteroid.
No space mission beyond the Moon has ever attempted such a large sample return before.
A reminder that TOMORROW (!!!) a Japanese spacecraft will return pieces of an asteroid to Earth – the biggest asteroid haul in history.
In about 20 hours the spacecraft will release its capsule, which will touch down in the Australian outback at about 5.45pm UTC on 5 December.
Scientists just released the highest resolution images of the Sun ever taken - heralding a new "golden age" of solar research in the 2020s.
Words, by me,
@SciAm
This is frickin' amazing – the moment a space junk net was fired by
@SurreySat
's
#RemoveDEBRIS
spacecraft in orbit on 16 September. This is real footage, not an animation.
Okay, I think we've got enough sources now to confirm
@isro
has an image (seems to be optical not thermal as some are reporting) of the
#VikramLander
on the surface of the Moon, and they are trying to make contact with it.
So... are we counting that as a successful landing?
Whoa. The FCC has issued a fine on space debris for the first time to a company that didn't deorbit its satellite properly.
It's a fine of $150,000 and "an admission of liability from the company". Could have fairly big implications for future space junk incidents?
JWST has imaged its first exoplanet!
The world, HIP 65426 b, is a "super Jupiter" nearly 400 light-years away.
This is a huge milestone for the telescope, and just the start of its transformational studies of alien worlds.
Story by me
@QuantaMagazine
There is a Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa 2 (
@haya2e_jaxa
) arriving at an asteroid in the next few days.
It hasn’t had a lot of love or attention yet. But this mission is FRICKING AWESOME. I’m going to tell you why.
Thread (1/n)
Hi everyone. Please meet Violet Elizabeth O'Callaghan, born yesterday, Wednesday 5 August at 6.52pm weighing a hefty 9lbs! Mum and baby (and Dad!) all doing well.
Heartbreaking that it appears NASA's Opportunity rover has met its end. What an amazing mission - nearly 15 years active on Mars, more than 28 miles traveled, and some simply stunning images like this one. Farewell
#Oppy
Last night, two astronomers were hoping to observe stars in a pair of nearby galaxies with a telescope in Chile.
Instead, they were greeted to the sight of 19 passing satellites in SpaceX's Starlink mega constellation.
Story below, by me,
@Forbes
Yesterday, scientists announced a major discovery that raised the question: Could there be life on Venus?
My latest for the
@nytimes
looks into the bold mission from
@RocketLab
that could launch as soon as 2023, years before anyone else, to find out.
🚨 Indian Space startup 'Skyroot Aerospace' from Hyderabad is planning to launch India's private orbital rocket 'Vikram 1' this year itself.
@PawanKChandana
Quite the find at a Georgian flea market today - a Soviet press badge that is apparently from the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Pretty chuffed with this!
In case you missed it, we got some footage earlier today from Japan's second Hayabusa2 (
@haya2e_jaxa
) asteroid landing on 11 July.
Yes, it's awesome.
A massive satellite being launched tomorrow could become the brightest artificial object in the sky.
Built by AST SpaceMobile, the experimental satellite is nearly half the size of a tennis court, and could outshine Venus.
Story by me
@NewScientist
Tonight, at 12.11am UK time, China will attempt to land a rover on Mars.
If successful, it will become only the second nation after the US to operate on the Martian surface (the Soviets came close).
It's a big deal, so I thought I'd lay out a few things in a little thread (1/x)
This was so weird I had to write about it.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa wants "single women aged 20 or over" to apply to fly on a SpaceX spacecraft with him around the Moon in 2023 in a bizarre matchmaking venture.
Words by me
@Forbes
As to why Aeolus had to move and not Starlink, my source just said "in space there are no rules". Basically, SpaceX said they wouldn't move. So Aeolus had to move.
(ESA said they were glad they knew one way or the other, however) (4/5)
ESA have been pretty frustrated with SpaceX so far. There has been very little communication regarding Starlink, despite repeated attempts by ESA to contact them (this is the first email SpaceX had sent). (3/5)
Quick 🧵 on concerns around AST SpaceMobile's massive new satellite, BlueWalker 3, launching tomorrow.
The experimental satellite will test if AST can directly beam 4G/5G from space to individual mobile phones.
This requires a huge antenna, which could be extremely bright... 1/
So, I'm very excited to share this today!
I've been working on this for months, having first had the idea a year ago.
It's a 200-year-old cosmic whodunnit, which could reveal the origins of every planet in the universe.
By me
@SciAm
+ small thread (1/)
SpaceX sent a short email to ESA saying they would not move their satellite. It's not clear why - they didn't mention if the satellite was active or not, apparently (ESA weren't even aware what the satellite was). (2/5)
We may have found another interstellar object in the Solar System - and it'll give us a greater insight into an alien solar system than ever before.
My latest for
@SciAm
, with quotes from the discoverer Gennady Borisov.
In honour of Shackleton's ship Endurance being found this week, we took a trip to see the James Caird at
@DulwichCollege
today!
This is the boat Shackleton and five of his crew travelled in from Elephant Island to South Georgia over 17 days. Pretty incredible.
🚨United Nation (Vienna) received a note verbale from Permanent Mission of China about USA
#SpaceX
’s two StarLink satellites (No.1095&2305) close encounters w/
#Tiangong
Space Station (CSS) on July 1 & Oct 21. No.2305 actively maneuvered with unknown strategy & orbit error. (1/2)
Climate change is shrinking our atmosphere. It could be a disaster for space junk.
- Since 2000, our atmosphere at 400km has lost 21% of its density
- If CO2 keeps rising we could lose 80% by 2100, increasing space junk levels 50x
Words by me
@nytimes
Super excited to share this.
Astronomers say they may have seen a hint of helium-2 in the early universe using JWST. It could be a first sign of Pop III stars, the first stars in the cosmos.
Pretty amazing discovery if true.
Words by me
@QuantaMagazine
A beautiful
#winter
wonderland... on
#Mars
! This ice-filled crater was imaged by our Mars Express spacecraft. Korolev crater is 82 kilometres across and found in the northern lowlands of Mars.
More images:
NASA and SpaceX are about to launch the two largest rockets in history: SLS and Starship.
Now astronomers are dreaming of what science missions these gigantic machines will make possible, from giant telescopes to Pluto orbiters.
Words by me
@SciAm