#spacecraft

#spacecraft

Littering on the Moon: Rocket Booster is the Latest Human Junk to Smash into the Lunar SurfaceAn old rocket booster smashed into the Moon. The junk was part of a rocket that launched Chang’e 5-T1, a small Chinese spacecraft that orbited the Moon in 2014.Thanks to lunar gravity, the booster collided with the far side of the Moon. It produced a puff of debris and left a small crater. Other junk is slated to reach the Moon this year. Because of this, people are now concerned that the lunar surface might become a celestial dumping ground. “Public opinion has changed sufficiently in recent years that even a scientific lunar orbiter being deliberately crashed would still raise questions about impacts on the lunar environment, in a way it once wouldn’t have,” said space archaeologist Alice Gorman.Image credit: NASA#spacecraft #Moon #rockets #rocketbooster #Change5T1 #collision #junk

Spacecraft BepiColombo Took a Snapshot of Venus During a Gravity Assist ManeuverThe spacecraft BepiColombo, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan's space agency JAXA, flew by Venus on its way to Mercury.Earlier this week, while performing a "gravity assist maneuver," BepiColombo took a snapshot of Venus in black and white. The spacecraft was 1,573 km (977 miles) away from the planet - at its closest, the spacecraft was just 552 km (342 miles) away.In the photo, you can see the high-gain antenna on the Mercury Planetary Orbiter at the top-left corner of the image.If you're wondering about the name, BepiColombo is named after Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo (1920 - 1984), a scientist at the University of Padua, Italy, who first suggested the gravity assist maneuver.Image: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM#spaceexploration #venus #BeliColombo #spacecraft #MercuryPlanetaryOrbiter #mercury #ESA #JAXA

First Video Clips of the Chinese Zhurong Mars RoverThe China National Space Agency (CNSA) has released the first videos of its Zhurong Mars rover that landed on the planet on May 14, 2021. The landing made China the second country that had successfully soft-landed a spacecraft on Mars.#Mars #spacecraft #Zhurong #CNSC #roverThe first video showed the Zhurong Rover backing away from a wireless camera placed on the ground.

Help NASA Name the Artemis "Moonikin" Crash Test Dummy That'll Fly Around The MoonNASA is gearing up to fly a suited manikin or crash test dummy that'll fly aboard the Orion spacecraft as it travels around the Moon and back in the upcoming Artemis I mission.The "Moonikin" is equipped with various sensors to help NASA learn how to best protect human astronauts ahead of the planned manned mission:The manikin’s seat will be outfitted with two sensors – one under the headrest and another behind the seat – to record acceleration and vibration throughout the mission. The seats are positioned in a recumbent, or laid-back, position with elevated feet to help maintain blood flow to the head during ascent and entry. The position also reduces the chance of injury by allowing the head and feet to be held into position during launch and landing, and by distributing forces across the entire torso during high acceleration and deceleration periods, like splashdown.The crew is expected to experience 2.5 times the force of gravity during ascent and four times the force of gravity at two different points during the planned reentry profile. Engineers will compare Artemis I flight data with previous ground-based vibration tests with the same manikin, and human subjects, to correlate performance prior to Artemis II.