Tag: Solar System
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Parker Solar Probe sets records during first encounter with the sun
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Nov. 8 with confirmation of Parker Solar Probe’s health after perihelion. Artist’s concept of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/Steve Gribben Less than three months after its fiery departure from Cape Canaveral, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flew within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of the sun Monday for the $1.5 billion mission’s…
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New Horizons on track for historic New Year’s Day flyby of Ultima Thule
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of 2014 MU69, also known as Ultima Thule. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Steve Gribben Thirteen years outbound from Earth and a billion miles past Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons probe is healthy and on course for a…
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Search for Planet Nine turns up a way-out dwarf planet that’s called ‘The Goblin’
The International Space Station leaves a streak above the Subaru Telescope in a long-exposure image. Observations using the Subaru Telescope led to the discovery of the mini-world known as The Goblin. (Subaru Telescope / NAOJ Photo / Hideaki Fujiwara) While searching for a hypothetical Planet Nine, astronomers found a distant mini-world that’s been given a…
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Japanese robots land on asteroid, send back pictures
The MINERVA-II-1A rover captured this blurred image Saturday at 0244 GMT (10:44 p.m. EDT Friday) showing asteroid Ryugu as the robot hopped across its surface. The bright feature on the right side of the image was caused by sunlight. Credit: JAXA A pair of tiny automated robots touched down on asteroid Ryugu on Friday after…
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Japanese billionaire reserves moon flight with SpaceX
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated with BFR design details. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk (left) and Yusaku Maezawa, founder of the Japanese retail website Zozo, announce plans for a private lunar mission at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Promising to take a half-dozen or more artists with him on the journey, Japanese…
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SpaceX promises details of “private passenger” moon flight Monday
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s planned interplanetary spaceship at the moon. Credit: SpaceX A year-and-a-half after announcing plans to launch two private citizens on a flight around the moon using the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket and Dragon capsule, SpaceX posted a tweet late Thursday announcing apparently revised plans to…
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Engineers still hopeful Mars rover will wake up after dust storm
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The Hubble Space Telescope captured this view Mars, with its surface partially hidden under a veil of dust, last month as the planet reached the closest point in its orbit to Earth. Credit: NASA, ESA, and STScI Flight controllers have not heard from NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover since…
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Japanese spacecraft reaches asteroid after three-and-a-half-year journey
Asteroid Ryugu imaged by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft June 26 at a range of 13 miles (22 kilometers) Wednesday. Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST Japan’s robotic Hayabusa 2 spacecraft arrived Wednesday at asteroid Ryugu, a diamond-shaped object more than a half-mile…
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Growing dust storm encircles Mars, rover remains silent
A self-portrait taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover taken June 15. A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover’s location in Gale Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS The effects of a global dust storm on Mars have been observed by NASA’s plutonium-powered Curiosity rover, which continues its scientific campaign as the thick veil of dust…
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Asteroid Ryugu revealed by approaching Japanese spacecraft
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated June 21 with new images. These views of asteroid Ryugu were taken June 18 through June 20 by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s telescopic optical navigation camera, showing the rotating object as the probe approached. Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Koichi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, University…