Tag: Goddard Space Flight Center
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How OSIRIS-REx will snag a sample from asteroid Bennu
This diagram illustrates the major events planned during OSIRIS-REx’s descent to asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 for a touch and go landing. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Mars rovers go through seven minutes of terror when they plunge into the Martian atmosphere at hypersonic speed. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will take a more glacial approach to its…
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft lands on asteroid in bid to collect samples
Artist’s illustration of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touching down on asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/CI Lab A robotic arm extended from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly contacted the rugged surface of asteroid Bennu Tuesday to gobble up pristine samples, a climactic moment in the $1 billion mission to bring asteroid material back to Earth in 2023. The daring…
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After four-year journey, NASA spacecraft ready to touch an asteroid
EDITOR’S NOTE: All times are “Earth Received Time” when confirmation of events arrive on Earth. The events will occur more than 18 minutes earlier in real time on-board the spacecraft. Artist’s concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Flying on autopilot more than 200 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…
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Coronavirus delays push back launch of next Landsat to September 2021
Artist’s illustration of the Landsat 9 satellite in orbit. Credit: NASA/GSFC The launch of the next Landsat land imaging mission — a joint project between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey — has been delayed until around September 2021 after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic slowed work on the spacecraft in Arizona, NASA officials…
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NASA asteroid explorer aces final rehearsal before sampling run
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft moved within about 131 feet, or 40 meters, of asteroid Bennu this week in the $1 billion mission’s final practice run before a touch-and-go landing on the asteroid in October to collect samples for return to Earth. During the sampling rehearsal Tuesday, engineers monitoring the spacecraft’s maneuvers from Earth confirmed that…
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Hubble still going strong 30 years after launch
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery on April 25, 1990, one day after its launch from the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA Thirty years ago Friday, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the shuttle Discovery with a famously flawed mirror, the opening…
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OSIRIS-REx spacecraft carries out first of two rehearsals before sampling asteroid
This artist’s concept shows the trajectory and configuration of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during the checkpoint rehearsal, which was the first time the mission practiced the initial steps for collecting a sample from asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Operating with on-board autonomy more than 140 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft succeeded Tuesday in…
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NASA to consider WFIRST launch options after mission passes key review
Artist’s illustration of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA expects to select a launch vehicle next year to carry the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope — a multibillion-dollar flagship astrophysics observatory targeted for cancellation by the Trump administration — into space in 2025 after the mission passed a key review last month, agency officials said.…
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SpaceX wins contract to launch NASA’s PACE Earth science mission
A Falcon 9 rocket stands vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad in this file photo. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX has won an $80 million contract to launch a NASA environmental research satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in late 2022 to collect data on ocean ecosystems and clouds, a mission that…
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Government watchdog warns of another JWST launch delay
The James Webb Space Telescope is pictured during a sunshield deployment test in October 2019 at a Northrop Grumman facility in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn The James Webb Space Telescope is at risk of another launch delay beyond the mission’s current target launch date in March 2021, the Government Accountability Office said this…