Tag: Solar System

  • Ultimate Ultima: New Horizons team shares sharpest view of space snowman

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    The most detailed images of a Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69 or Ultima Thule — obtained just minutes before the spacecraft’s closest approach — have a resolution of about 110 feet per pixel. This processed, composite picture combines nine individual images taken with the New Horizons spacecraft’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager. The image…

  • Photos: Beresheet lander tested for historic moon mission

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    The Beresheet moon lander will attempt to become the first privately-funded spacecraft to reach the moon, and these photos show the robotic probe’s journey through testing inside a clean room at Israel Aerospace Industries, followed by its attachment to a multi-satellite stack for launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. Beresheet, which means “genesis” or “in…

  • New Horizons finds Ultima Thule has an unexpected, flattened shape

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    Scientists’ understanding of the shape of Ultima Thule, officially known as 2014 MU69, has changed since the New Horizons spacecraft’s Jan. 1 flyby. Imagery downlinked by the probe in recent weeks suggests Ultima Thule’s two lobes have a flatter shape than the spherical projection suggested by the flyby’s initial pictures. The dashed blue line marks…

  • NASA orbiter spots Chinese lander on the moon

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    NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the Chang’e 4 lander and the Yutu 2 rover Feb. 1 from an altitude of 51 miles (82 kilometers). The Yutu 2 rover is annotated with the arrow on the upper left, and the Chang’e 4 stationary lander is annotated with the arrow at lower right. Credit:…

  • NASA declares Opportunity rover dead after 15 years on Mars

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    Opportunity’s front hazard-avoidance camera captured this image of the rover’s shadow July 26, 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Eight months after last hearing from the Opportunity rover, NASA officials announced the end of the craft’s 15-year mission Wednesday, closing out an ambitious chapter of Mars exploration that proved the Red Planet once harbored running water and demonstrated…

  • NASA declares Opportunity rover dead after 15 years on Mars

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    Opportunity’s front hazard-avoidance camera captured this image of the rover’s shadow July 26, 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Eight months after last hearing from the Opportunity rover, NASA officials announced the end of the craft’s 15-year mission Wednesday, closing out an ambitious chapter of Mars exploration that proved the Red Planet once harbored running water and demonstrated…

  • NASA’s first interplanetary CubeSats fall silent beyond Mars

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    MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took these images as it approached Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a successful mission that pushed the limits of small satellite technology, ground controllers have lost contact with two briefcase-sized CubeSats beyond Mars, NASA said Tuesday. The pioneering Mars Cube One, or MarCO, mission set records…

  • NASA’s first interplanetary CubeSats fall silent beyond Mars

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    MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took these images as it approached Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a successful mission that pushed the limits of small satellite technology, ground controllers have lost contact with two briefcase-sized CubeSats beyond Mars, NASA said Tuesday. The pioneering Mars Cube One, or MarCO, mission set records…

  • OSIRIS-REx finds rugged terrain on asteroid Bennu

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    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Bennu on Jan. 17 from a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). The large boulder in partial shadow at the lower right of the frame is about 165 feet (50 meters) across. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Some time next year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…

  • OSIRIS-REx finds rugged terrain on asteroid Bennu

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    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Bennu on Jan. 17 from a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). The large boulder in partial shadow at the lower right of the frame is about 165 feet (50 meters) across. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Some time next year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…