Tag: Germany
-
InSight’s entry, descent and landing timeline
Artist’s concept of the InSight spacecraft streaking into the Martian atmosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s InSight lander will fly from the outer edge of the Martian atmosphere at a speed of more than 12,000 mph to a controlled descent rate of 5 mph just above the red planet’s surface in less than seven minutes. The robotic…
-
Mars lander on course for Monday touchdown
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The InSight spacecraft approaches Mars in this artist’s concept. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a six-month voyage from Earth, NASA’s InSight Mars lander, streaking through space at at some 12,300 mph, will slam into the thin martian atmosphere Monday afternoon to begin a nail-biting six-and-a-half-minute descent to the surface, kicking…
-
MASCOT lander hops around asteroid, exceeding scientists’ expectations
This image was taken by MASCOT’s camera between 10 and 20 meters (32 and 65 feet) above the asteroid’s surface. Credit: MASCOT/DLR/JAXA BREMEN and COLOGNE, Germany — The MASCOT lander released from Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft this week made three hops to different locations on asteroid Ryugu before draining its battery, outliving its design life…
-
MASCOT lander sends back otherworldly views of asteroid Ryugu’s rugged terrain
The MASCOT lander’s view of asteroid Ryugu’s lumpy, bumpy surface was displayed during a post-mission news conference. Click on the image for more from German science writer Daniel Fischer’s Skyweek 2.0 website. (DLR Photo / Processed by Daniel Fischer) Japan’s Hayabusa 2 probe and the German-French MASCOT lander have teamed up to send back amazing…
-
Boxy MASCOT lander plops itself down on asteroid Ryugu for a 17-hour survey
An artist’s conception shows the MASCOT lander sitting on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. (JAXA Illustration) A robotic probe the size of a shoebox set itself down on the asteroid Ryugu, more than 180 million miles from Earth, and conducted a 17-hour survey of its rocky surroundings. The foot-wide, German-built lander is called MASCOT,…
-
Descent begins for European asteroid lander
Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft approaching asteroid Ryugu. Credit: DLR A German-built landing probe the size of a microwave oven carrying a camera and a suite of scientific instruments was closing in on asteroid Ryugu Tuesday, riding aboard Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to join two other robots deployed to the asteroid’s surface last…
-
Live coverage: MASCOT lander begins exploring asteroid Ryugu
Live coverage of the final descent and landing of MASCOT, a miniature robot developed in Germany and France carried aboard Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft exploring asteroid Ryugu. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Check this page for live updates during MASCOT’s missing at Ryugu.
-
Hayabusa 2 team sets dates for asteroid landings
Hayabusa 2’s optical navigation camera captured this view of asteroid Ryugu from a distance of 6 kilometers (4 miles) on July 20. Credit: JAXA Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is preparing to release three hopping robots to land on asteroid Ryugu in the coming month, with tiny instruments scientists hope will explore the airless world’s boulder-strewn…
-
Spacewalkers toss nanosatellites into orbit, hook up bird migration monitor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 0030 GMT on Aug. 16 (8:30 p.m. EDT on Aug. 15) after the end of the spacewalk. Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev prepares to release a nanosatellte on Wednesday’s spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Clad in pressurized spacesuits, two Russian cosmonauts headed outside the International Space Station on Wednesday and hand-released four tiny…
-
Hayabusa 2 probe gets a closer look at asteroid amid landing preps
A wide-angle optical navigation camera on the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft captured this view of asteroid Ryugu on Aug. 6 as the spacecraft approached to a distance of less than 2,800 feet (851 meters) from the object. Credit: JAXA, University Tokyo, Koichi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University of Aizu,…