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Posts tagged NASA
ISRO successfully launched Chandrayaan-2
Jul 23rd
Once again ISRO- Indian Space Research Organisation made the nation proud by successfully launching Chandrayaan-2 , the 2nd moon mission. Lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state at 2:43 p.m., Monday 22nd July 2019.
This lunar mission’s objective is to launch a rover on the south pole of the moon for exploration. NASA and global media congratulated ISRO on the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 and tweeted that they are looking forward to the findings of India in Lunar south pole. Major US and British news outlets such as The Newyork Times, The Guardian, BBC reported this event extensively. Even our neighbours China and Pakistan’s media and TV network covered the event closely.
This is a complex mission and was supposed to launch on 15th July 2019, but got delayed due to a technical snag. ISRO More >
Solar Flare to hit Earth on Thursday Morning 8th March 2012
Mar 8th
One more solar flare due to sun’s eruption occurred and it is the largest of the last five years. The New York Times reports that the coronal mass ejection will hit earth at about 1:30 a.m on Thursday morning. The solar flare is racing toward Earth, threatening to unleash a torrent of charged particles that could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights.
The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 4 a.m. PST today, according to forecasters at the federal government’s Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.
NASA captured a video of the solar flare as it erupted and hurled a “big blob of magnetized material” toward the earth. The AR1429 sunspot region shouts off a solar flare on Sunday and two more yesterday. The AR1429 region is currently pointing almost directly at earth which means that the coronal mass ejection could have a big impact on earth.
Another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this. But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens today when the charged particles hit Earth at 4 million mph. More >
NASA launched twin satellites GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B for its moon research mission
Sep 12th
NASA finally launched its moon research mission, after a couple of weather delays. The launched twin satellites named Grail A and Grail B short form for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory took off on Saturday morning at 0908 EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to unveil the inner secrets of the moon. The two probes will study the moon’s internal structure in unprecedented detail, shedding light on whether a second moon crashed into it long ago.
GRAIL will study how the moon was formed. It will explore “the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core… to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon,” NASA said.
The first of the two robotic spacecraft separated from the Delta II upper stage 1 hour and 21 minutes after launch at 10:28 a.m. ET and the second spacecraft separated eight minutes later.
Even though the spacecraft duo was launched on the same day, they will arrive at the moon one day apart. The first orbiter, GRAIL-A arrives on 31 Dec 2011 and GRAIL-B arrives 25 hours later on 1 Jan 2012. More >
Atlantis bid final farewell to ISS and headed to Home!
Jul 21st
Atlantis bid final farewell to International Space Station and headed towards home. Atlantis was set to land at 5:56 am (0956 GMT), making it a rare night landing, and NASA was describing a “gorgeous night at the Kennedy Space Center.”
The crew of Atlantis on Tuesday bade a bittersweet goodbye to the International Space Station ending the final visit by a space shuttle to ISS. The crew of Atlantis began deorbit procedures from the ISS at 0628 GMT about 350 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean to begin its final return to Earth. “Thanks so much for hosting us. It’s a great station, and it’s been an absolute pleasure,” Atlantis commander Chris Ferguson said of his crew’s eight-day stay at the ISS.
“We’ll miss you guys. Godspeed, soft landing and we’ll see you back on Earth in the fall,” space station crewmember Ronald Garan, a Nasa flight engineer, said as Atlantis floated away. “It’s been an incredible ride,” said Ferguson of the final shuttle mission. “We will never forget the role that the space shuttle played in (the station’s) creation,” he said. “Farewell ISS, make us proud.”
Final inspections of the shuttle’s heat shield, which protects More >
Atlantis space shuttle successfully docked with the International Space Station
Jul 11th
Atlantis space shuttle successfully docked with the International Space Station for one last time at 15:07 GMT yesterday. The 12-day mission will bring NASA’s shuttle program to an end.
Two days after its launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Atlantis became the 37th shuttle to dock with the ISS. Before connecting with the ISS, the Atlantis did the customary back flip to allow station crew to photograph its heat shield. The snaps will be sent to ground controllers to check for any damage.
Atlantis is carrying the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module, loaded with spares and supplies. Pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialist Sandy Magnus will today use the ISS’s Canadarm2 robot limb to shift the module from the shuttle’s cargo bay to the station’s Harmony node. Atlantis is also carrying enough replacement parts to keep the space station operating once the shuttle program is shut down.
It is carrying the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment, designed to test tools, technologies and techniques needed More >
Atlantis Space Shuttle Launch may be delayed due to Weather Conditions
Jul 8th
Atlantis space shuttle launch may be delayed by Weather Conditions on Friday morning. The shuttle launch of Atlantis is the final mission in NASA’s 30 year shuttle program.
According to Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida there’s a 70 per cent chance of rain or thunderstorms at Cape Canaveral, which could delay the shuttle launch.
The countdown had begun for Scheduled launch time of 11:26 a.m. ET with the fuel tanks full and no technical issues to report till early Friday.
NASA will not launch a shuttle through rain or with any lightning activity in the area. The weather has been hot and humid, and Thursday a lightning strike More >
Black hole consuming and ripping apart a star is detected by scientists!!
Jun 17th
Scientists have detected a massive black hole consuming and ripping apart a star within the constellation of Draco. Astronomers found a powerful beam of energy that had crossed 3.8billion light years and thought it as a typical ‘gamma ray burst’ from a collapsing star.
That high-energy jet of light beam was produced by a star about the size of the sun being swallowed up by a black hole a million times more massive. The event – known as Sw 1644+57 – appeared to come from the centre of a galaxy nearly four billion light years away.
This amazing discovery was reported online by the journal Science.
Warwick University’s Dr Andrew Levan said More >
Lunar Eclipse on June 15th 2011
Jun 15th
Today’s Lunar Eclipse is the longest complete lunar eclipse with in past 11 years. According to some astronomers the moon will get blood red during the early morning hours. The longest lunar eclipse occurred last time was in July 2000 and after 11 years today is the day we can watch another longest complete lunar eclipse which will last for around 100 minutes.
The Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal (SWAN) in India will be doing a live web cast of the event which starts at 20:12:36 UT, which is 15:12:36 EST. So people in US can watch the eclipse in the mid-afternoon.
According to a astronomy center in Victoria, Australia More >